Deus est Nadia
by TraxXavier
Summary: The story is as the title may already suggest a crossover, one of the main characters in the fic will be Nadia from the other Hideaki Anno masterpiece "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water". To make things more complicated I will mix a few other series into the fic I will focus here on the works of another great master Gene Roddenberry. Cover art by Armen MARDIROSSIAN
1. It has begun

15 June 2115 in neo Tokio-3.

Nadia is standing on a ledge at the top of a tall building with a clear sight on the school where the potential eva pilots are usually going to.

"She is missing again" Nadia said in a worried tone.

"I guess they are running some tests again" Trax answered. "Everything indicates that they are expecting an attack soon"

"It's strange" Nadia said. "Why should the angels attack here, why not any other NERV branch,… well or any other target for that matter?"

"The more interesting question is I think why now" Trax said. "Why would the angels wait for mankind to prepare an defense before attacking…"

"you think they are going to intentionally provoke an attack" Nadia asked.

"Well I find that highly likely, that's the only plausible explanation" Trax noted. "btw, we should head back…"

Trax and Nadia used a portable interdimensional portal to get back to their secret lair. It's a small Taelon structure hidden inside an abandoned factory building in an industrial park near to Neo Tokio-3. The Taelon technology is "organic" in nature; hence it can grow and regenerate itself. The Taelons literally can grow buildings and ships.

"Why would they intentionally try to provoke the angels to attack here?" Trax asked.

"Given the danger they pose, it may be tactics, the desire to go into the fight on own terms" Nadia speculated.

"Hmm… possibly although I would think they are rushing things" Trax argued, "they are not really ready, postponing the conflict a year or two would drastically increase the chances for success"

"Well… they may be under a 'zug zwang', waiting longer may not be a viable option, for whatever undisclosed reason…" Nadia said speculating.

Trax looked onto a computer display next to him, and made a disappointed facial expression.

"still nothing" Nadia asked.

"Yea, no mather how good of a hacker one is getting into an air gapped system is theoretically impossible" trax said disappointed, "and none of my AI bots have yet managed to find some usable side channel for a remote attack".

"We should consider physical infiltration of the system", Nadia said with a determined tone.

"Yes I know, but if they find a micro drone this may pose problems in future if we chose to get in direct contact" Trax argued.

"Well we could opt for technology that is currently state of the art on earth," nadia said. "then we could deny any involvement"

"Sure, but then this technology is very limited, after we left the technological progress stalled a lot and the recent extinction event caused a significant setback especially in the field of Nano-fabrication"

"It's a shame that the UN is not capable to getting a spy into the inner circles of NERV or SEELE"

"Liam said the last time I talked to him that they are working on it and it looks promising" Trax said.

Liam Kincaid is a vice director of the UN intelligence agency. Back in the days when the Taelons ware on earth he was a double agent working for the resistance as the bodyguard of the North American Companion Da'an. Later he became the leader of the resistance. Once the Taelons left earth he started working officially for the UN intelligence agency, making his way up to vice director.

"The old man was saying that already the last time and the time before that"

"well not quite this time he said the attempt looks promising" Trax replyed.

"Yea that's not so very convincing" Nadia argued "NERV is really good at counter intelligence."

"I guess if you kill half of earth's population possibly on purpose and get away with it you must be…" she added.

Nadia looked around the room thinking.

"We don't know that for sure, it may have been an accident" Trax said. "But in any case it appears now they are trying to prevent such an event from repeating"

"At least that's their official job description" Nadia said. "Talking about letting the fox guard the chicken"

Trax smiled.

"How about we try to take the maters into our own hands?" Trax suggested "we should get in touch with NERV officially that is"

Trax leaned back in his chair

"you see the reason why its so hard to get someone into NERV is that thay don't take job applications, if they need somebody that pick from qualified professionals by random or take people related to the already employed personel"

"You mean they can't say no to employing two Taelon envoys?" nadia asked.

"Yes, exactly!" trax replyed "Our knowhow is unprecedented making us an extremely valuable asset, no matter what final objective they are pursuing"

"How do you suggest we get in contact?" Nadia wondered? "It's not like we could just knock on the front door flash our old diplomatic passports"

"Hmm… yea that would be suspicious, especially the timing" trax said. "Although… if we wait for an angel to attack, that would take care of it"

"Indeed we could plausibly argue to have observed the events on earth remotely and decided to intervene once there ware from orbit visible signs that the catastrophe from 15 years ago may repeat" Nadia said smiling conspirativly.

* * *

Cover art : Armen MARDIROSSIAN


	2. Angel Attack (01,02)

22 June 2115 in Trax and Nadias base of operation, a Taelon structure hidden inside an old factory.

"Incoming transmission from the mothership" a computer voice said repetedly.

"Receive on screen 5" Nadia said.

Da'an appeared on the screen.

"Today at 9:44 orbital probe 43 detected a strange energy signature moving in the Pacific Ocean heading in Japan's direction." Da'an said in his usual calm ton of voice. "After more observations I am convinced that it must be an angel, the energy output is very high and the object appears to be biological in nature."

"And its heading straight for Neo Tokio-3?" Nadia asked.

"Not straight but at least in the general direction." Da'an answered

"That is kind of unexpected, we haven't noticed anything substantially different on our scans of the geo front" Trax said.

The Geo front is a huge underground cavern in which NERV built their headquarters; it appears to be a perfect sphere and is not of human origins. Most of it is still filled with debris. Neo Tokio-3 is built at the very top. IN case of emergency all the buildings can be moved using a elevator system inside the geo front.

"Their behavior was indicating that they are probably expecting an attack" Nadia said. "Eider they provoked the attack in a way that is not apparent on our scans or they got some damn good intel."

"Da'an did the probes observe the origin of the potential angel?" Trax asked.

"It appears that the signature grew in strength over the past days until it was noticed by the monitoring system today", Da'an said. "Tracing it to its origin is not possible with the recorded scans as 3 days ago the signal drops below the noise level of our detectors."

"I see." Trax sighed. "That is unfortunate".

"Do you think it is plausible that NERV head means to detect the angel already some weeks ago" Nadia asked. "Possibly using a some close range sensors spread around the planet that we don't know about"

"That is possible, although I would imagine that if they could localize the angel while its energy level was still low they would at least attempt a preemptive strike" Trax argued. "Besides the timing is still awfully convenient, a year or two earlier and mankind would not have any working defense up and running"

Da'an said agreeing "Indeed the timing would suggest that they eider knew years in advance when the angel's will attack or they provided the attack somehow on purpose"

"Ok, so we operate under the assumption for now that they don't know the angel is closing in" Nadia asserted.

"Agreed, although it will reach the shore line in a few hours anyways" Da'an noted.

"Hmm… our intel from Liam indicated that a routine activation test of unit 00 failed some days ago quite drastically, at least that's what one of the moles in the construction company observed, when they were called in to clean up the mess." Nadia said worried "If unit 00 and/or its pilot are out of commission that may leave NERV in a very unpleasant situation".

"Probably unit 01 does not have a pilot and unit 02 with its pilot are still located in Germany" Trax added.

"Exactly for situations like this a mole higher up in NERV'S ranks would be extremely helpful" Da'an said. "We should reconsider the possibility of using a CVI to turn one of NERV's commanding stuff…"

"Absolutly NOT!" Nadia said with anger in her voice that was very unusual for her.

A Cyber Virus Implant is a cybernetic implant which extends the capabilities of a human brain but can also be used to impose a motivational imperative on the wearer.

"So what will be our course of action" Da'an asked. "Shell we just wait and see?"

"Yea, but just in case we should have our contingency plan ready to be deployed…" Trax said.

Later the day the angel attacked Neo Tokio-3 as expected. The UN deployed their troops and some higher ranking UN officials ware observing the offensive from NERV'S head quarter.

In the meantime in NERV's HQ.

Misato is running to her car to pick up Shinji Ikari, the son of NERV commander Gendo Ikari, from the train station. After the collapse of the portal network, when the Taelons left, mankind went back to using trains and plains for long distance travels. Due to the resource scarcity after the second impact fuel became however significantly more expensive hence plains are not used by masses anymore.

"Danm, danm, damn! Why today, the day the commander got his son to visit NERV…" Misato said to herself when getting into her car.

Misato Katsuragi has a rank of a captain in the NERV hierarchy and is the director of defense operations.

While she was on root to the train station the UN forces engaged the angel. The fight was rather not going well for the troupes; no weapon they could use seemed to have the least effect on the angel.

Trax and Nadia have been following the fight from their base of operations using their cloaked satellites as well as some cloaked drones operating in the area.

"This energy field the creature uses seems to be really effective, I'm wondering how it will hold against a N2 bomb" Trax said.

A N2 bomb is a Neutron-AntiNeutron annihilation device, one could also call it just an anti mater bomb. Trax and Nadia ware informed um front by Liam that the UN is planning to use one of this devices in case the conventional weapons will be ineffective. And since they ware, the UN dropped the bomb on the angel.

"Drones 1 to 4 destroyed" a computer voice said. "Switching to satellite images."

The UN officials inside NERV ware watching the detonation using their own satellites.

"Scan complete" an operator said "we still detect an energy signature in the epicenter!"

"Impossible!" a high ranking UN general scrammed

"Affirmative sir! The creature appears to be damaged but already started to regenerate" another operator said.

"As I told you regular weapons are highly ineffective against an angel, its AT-field protects it." Commander Ikari said. "The only means with which we can fight them is the Evangelion project!"

"Well that still has to be proven!" one of the UN officials said.

"The emergency protocol clearly states that in a situation like this the operational command goes to NERV" Sub commander fuyutsuki said.

"The creature will soon resume its attack", Gendo said.

"Apparently I don't have any other option than to give you the command over this operation", a UN official said to commander ikari. "Are you sure that you can destroy this thing?"

Gendo corrected the position of his eye glasses and said confident "That is what NERV was made for"

"I pray you are tight" the ON official replied.

The UN representatives left the NERV command center.

„What are you going to do?" sub commander Fuyutsuki asked.

"Activate Unit 01" Gendo answered.

"Activate it?" Fuyutsuki asked back "But we have no pilot!"

„Not anymore, another spare is being delivered." the commander said.

In the meantime Misato arrived with Shinji in the NERV HQ they met the leader of the research staff Dr. Ritsuko Akagi and are taking an elevator next to a large tank holding unit 01.

„My father works here" Shinji asked.

„Yes", Ritsuko answered.

They arrived at the top of the tank. And entered a dark room at the top, the lights went on and they saw the head of unit 01 in front of them, Shinji screamed frightened.

„What,…. What is this?!", he asked.

„It's an Evangelion short EVA, a weapon made to fight the angels." Ritsuko answered.

„Angels?" Shinji asked.

„Yes, like the creature you saw top side", Ritsuko answered.

„Preparing for activation 98% completed" a voice said through the speakers.

„Activation?!" Misato asked confused. „I thought we don't have a pilot?!"

„You just brought one…" Ritsuko answered?

„What?!" Misato screamed

„I am supposed to pilot this thing" Shinji asked disappointed „of cause, he wouldn't let me come if he would not have a use for me" Shinji added, with 'he' meaning his father the commander.

„I can't" I don't know how to Pilot this thing." he said.

„You have just to try, we are not expecting anything else…" Ritsuko said.

In the meantime on the top side, the angel finished regenerating and is trashing the city.

„Well it appears the angel got NERV with their pants down." Trax said. „We may not have a choice at all than to intervene."

„As long as the angel is only attacking the surface its ok." Nadia said „As long as he doesn't get inside the geo front, he can't get in contact with Lilith and cause an extinction event."

„True, but still, if he does an das it looks it's just a matter of time." Trax said. „We don't really have options right now that would not include massive collateral damages and possibly would be considered an act of war."

„Blowing up a city with a quantum vortex from orbit violates basically any treaty ever signed with regard to use of earth's orbit" Trax added.

„Well I think given the alternative is excusable" Nadia said „although I'm wondering if we may have another option…"

„You mea not use Red Noah?" Trax asked.

In the meantime in NERV's HQ Shinji agreed to pilot the EVA, once he was plugged in the Evangelion was transported to neo tokio-3 using an elevator. The Evangelion activated and started to move.

Unfortunately it did not go far, Shinji stumbled with it during the first steps and the giant fell to the ground.

The angel attacked instantly grabbing the Evangelion by it head and started trying to pierce its head with an energy weapon integrated into its forearm. Then it threw it against a building, the Evangelion stopped moving.

„That does not look good." Nadia said.

„That looks like a perfect example of total incompetence!" Trax said „They apparently used some untrained pilot in a, for what they know, a live or death situation for all of mankind!"

Inside NERV's HQ.

"The head is damaged, external damage unknown!" an operator screamed.

"Unit 01 deactivated all systems are down", another operator said with a panicking voice.

Just than the EVA reactivated.

„How is that possible." an operator screamed.

„What's the status of the pilot is Shinji ok" Misato asked.

„Status unknown" a female operator said. „The Evangelion is acting on its own!"

"What?!" Misato screamed!

„Its going berserk" Ritsuko said.

The Evangelion managed to break through the angels AT-Field and started attempting to smash its S2 organ.

The S2 organ also called an angel score is a red orb that the first angel Adam head and which is supposed to be present in other angels descending from him, it is their primary source of energy. The angel wrapped itself around the Evangelion and in an exploded in a gigantic blast of energy. The Evangelions also have these but they are dormant. Hence they need to be supplied with energy externally, through a long cord. If the external energy is gut, the backup batteries suffice only for about 5 minutes of operation in power saving mode.

„A last desperate act, what's with the EVA?" Misato screamed at the operators.

„Units 01 AT field protected it." an operator answered.

In the mean time in the Taelon structure.

"Not bad for an untrained pilot." Trax said.

"I don't think that was the pilot." Nadia disputed "Look how it is moving,… like a kind of animal rather than a human."

"You think the creature has a mind of its own?" Trax asked.

"I wouldn't know why not, it was cloned form an angel and it has a brain" Nadia said.

"If that is the case than that's really atrocious" Trax said.


	3. Invasion

Trax and Nadia are plotting how to best introduce them self's to NERV.

"We should just go to their office in the city and introduce ourselves" Nadia said. "That's a perfectly reasonable way to get in contact."

"No, I'm pretty sure they would not believe us" Trax replied. "The best case is that we will have to wait through hours of interrogation with some low level operatives, while the worst case is they will assume we are some nut jobs and call the cops"

"Well your idea to break into NERV and just knock on the door of the commander will be an even worst first impression" Nadia said.

"Ok, that one may have been a little bit over the top" Trax said "How about that: we take a Taelon shuttle and just drop out of the interdimension inside the Geo Front"

"That will ensure we have the attention from the higher ups, while not being too intrusive" Trax added.

"So we just land there near the lake for example and go site seeing, waiting for the cavalry to surround us or what?" Nadia asked.

"Well pretty much yes" Trax said smiling.

Nadia agreed with the proposal "hmm… Ok I guess that's a good compromise" she said.

They went onto the Taelon mothership and took a shuttle to the geo front.

"Ok we are in" Trax said when the shuttle dropped out of the interdimensional hyperspace. "Where would you like me to land" he asked.

Nadia looked around and pointed towards a large sandbank on the shore of the lake inside the Geo Front.

"How about there" she replied "that looks like a nice spot, that is we can survey a large area, so they should be forced to approach us directly instead of trying to sneak on."

Trax landed the shuttle on the designated spot and they got out, layed down a picnic blanket and set down.

"Now we just have to wait" Nadia said.

Trax smiled

"Hehehe… would like to see the expression on their faces when they see the first surveillance close-up, that should be a very amusing WTF moment"

An alarm serene rang in NERV's command center.

"Security breach in sector 85 an unidentified flying object appeared on the sensors." a female operator screamed. Her name was Maya Ibuki.

"Notify the captain" another operator said "Where is it now?" the name of the other operator being Makoto Hyuga.

"It appears to have landed near to the quarry lake" Maya answered.

The third operator Shigeru Aoba asked "Can we get a close up?"

"Yes!" Maya answered bringing one of the surveillance cameras inside the Geo front imposition.

"What is that thing?" Aoba asked.

At this very moment Dr. Ritsuko Akagi entered the room.

"Aren't you learning anything in school this days, that is apparently a Taelon shuttle" she said angry.

"Where is Captain Katsuragi" she added.

"A Taelon shuttle?" Maya asked.

"Yea, this aliens that landed half a century before the second impact" Makoto said, I learned about them in history class I think.

Finally Misato entered the command central.

"Status Report!" she said.

"At 0900 an unidentified flying object appeared inside the geo front" Maya reported "it hovered for a few minutes over the lake before landing there" She pointed on the screen.

Misato looked on the main screen showing the shuttle and two apparently human looking intruders sitting on a blanket, in that very moment of them winked towards the camera.

"WTF?!" Misato screamed "is that some kind of a joke or what"

"No captain" Makoto said "Whomever this two are they apparently have access to Taelon technology"

"Non of the defense parameters have been breached they just appeared out of no ware" he said. "If I recall correctly the Taelons head drives that allowed them to travel outside the normal space time."

"And that is how they got in here?" Misato asked.

"Apparently yes, at least that's the only possible explanation, however implausible it may sound" he added.

"I think they are waiting for us." Ritsuko added.

"Couldn't they have just knocked on the front door like any decent human being" Misato asked annoyed.

"Now they at least have our undivided attention" Ritsuko replied.

Misato accompanied with a small troupe of NERV soldiers entered a chopper and took of heading in the direction of Trax and Nadia.

Soon after they landed next to the tree line between the woods and the Taelon shuttle.

Trax and Nadia stood up and looked into the direction of the aircraft.

Misato jumped out and charged towards the intruders screaming.

"Who the hell are you and who allowed you to breach our air space?" She screamed.

When she came close enough to be able to hear an answer.

Nadia said "We are the guardians of the Taelons legacy. My name is Nadia and this is my companion Trax."

"We observed your rather clumsy fight with that creature a few days ago" She added.

"And you decided just like that to break in into a restricted area?!" Misato said still screaming. She apparently was not a big fan of intruders that can bypass time and space.

Trax smiled and said "Well Initially I suggested we just break in into your office and say hello, but may dear Nadia pointed out that this may be considered rood"

Misato made a really amusing WTF facial expression and did not really know what to say next, that reply was more than unexpected.

"Well anyhow, now we have your attention and you haven't started shooting so that's a good start right" Nadia said to break the ice a bit.

"Well we can still start" Misato replied, but not with a threatening ton of voice.

"So you just wanted to say hello or what?" She asked.

"Well it did not skip our attention that a near extinction event took place about 15 years ago, and that it apparently was caused by a creature similar to the one that attacked recently" Trax said.

"Given the possible conclusion that it may also be able to cause another event like the one in 2100 we thought that it would be in our mutual best interest if we offer you our assistance." Nadia added.

"How would that be in your interest" Misato asked. "Besides you don't look even remotely old enough to be remembering what happened in 2100" She added.

"Well, mankind is supposed to hold the key to the Taelons survival according to Ma'el's 'prophecy', so letting you go extinct does not seem like a good idea." Nadia said.

"And for our appearance, we are older than you think, much older than you in fact." Trax said.

"What?" Misato asked with a unbelieving tone of voice.

"Well if you would have to wait possibly centuries in stasis for your salvation, would you leave someone in charge that is going to grow old and possibly dye?" Trax asked. "That sounds awfully risky if you ask me."

"So how old are you?" Misato asked.

To which Nadia replied "You don't ask a lady that" and smiled.

„May I suggest you bring us to the commands" Trax said.

„For what I know you just somehow got your hands on a Taelon shuttle" Misato said „Can you prove in any way that you are really Taelon representatives" she asked

Nadia handed Misato 2 old diplomatic passports.

„Here you go" Nadia said.

Misato went back to the chopper to report in and ask commander Ikari for permission to bring the two „guests" to NERV's HQ.

„Do you believe their story?" the commander asked through the radio.

„I have no idea, …" Misato said „They have some papers but they are really really old, besides they don't make an impression as if they ware some old Taelon diplomats or something"

„Well they got access to a Taelon shuttle at least…" the commander said „bring them in!"

„If they can access and operate Taelon technology that makes them already very useful assets, no matter how they got it." he added.

Trax and Nadia boarded the aircraft with Misato and are on the way to the NETV HQ.

Meanwhile in Gendos office.

„Do you think it is wise to let someone that unpredictable inside the HQ" sub commander Fuyutsuki asked.

„From what I know about the Taelons, what they were capable of, they could get in at any time anyways." Gendo replied.

„So instead you let them in through the front door?" Fuyutsuki asked.

This way they have to behave and we can keep an eye on them." the commander replied.

In the meantime on the aircraft. Misato is wondering about the whole situation and the actions of the two visitors,

willingly going with an armed escort into some secret governmental site, does not appear to be a very safe move.

Do they relay so much on their apparent diplomatic immunity noted in their old documents or have they something up their sleeves she does not know of.

„Say Nadia" she asked „isn't it a bit, to trusting just going with us to the HQ like that?"

„No not at all" Nadia replied „there is nothing you could do to harm or confine us, so its fine" she smiled.

„Well detonating a N2 mine in the close proximity, may be a minor annoyance though" Trax added.

„Are you f***ing kidding me!", she screamed.

Later in NERQ, Ritsuko entered the commander's office, and handed the old passports back to Trax and Nadia.

„As far as I can tell the documents are genuine." she said. „They have been issued in 2042. The RDIF chip's are intact and contain biometric data confirming the identity of our two visitors."

„Seriously?! How can you be sure it's not just a good forgery" Misato asked.

„The data are digitally signed with a UN certificate used exclusively for issuing diplomatic paperwork that was in use between 2038 and 2043" Ritsuko answered „The respective private key was generated and kept on a signing hardware token which was destroyed once the declared validity of the certificate ran out."

„So you are saying it's absolutely impossible for it to be a forgery?" the commander asked.

„The devices were manufactured such that it was basically impossible to create a copy of the key. They are designed to mitigate any known vectors for side channel attacks, and they were temper proved such that an attempt to physical access the memory cells on the device would lead to the key being destroyed." Ritsuko explained „The only way that is not absolutely impossible would be to recover the key from the public key, but a 3071 bit key using the Supersingular Elliptic Curve Isogeny Cryptography system is still considered unbreakable by today's standards.„

The Supersingular Elliptic Curve Isogeny Cryptography System is as of 2015 a contender for Post Quantum Computing cryptography, as all currently employed schemes for asymmetric encryption can be easily broken with a quantum computer that has enough qbits. As of 2015 the largest QC has 7 qbits iirc. That is nothing. But the Taelons obviously would have the means to implement quantum computers of usable dimensions a.k.a. billions of qbits. Hence it is to be assumed that in the time after their landing mankind would switch to cryptographic schemes that cannot be broken easily using a quantum computer.

„But that would mean that you to are at least 75 years old!?" Misato asked with an unbelieving tone of voice, she till this moment thought this was some kind of elaborate hoax by someone who got his hands on some left over Taelon technology.

„At least" Trax said smiling.

„Well not necessarily you may have spent most of this time in some kind of stasis." Ritsuko said, searching for a more likely explanation.

„Anyhow it appears your genuine Taelon representatives, so why have you come back to earth after so many decades." Gendo asked.

"We have been monitoring mankind's progress remotely." Trax said "Until 15 years ago everything looked promising."

"But then everything went south, an event like the so called second impact does not go unnoticed." he continued. "Since them we have been observing earth very closely from space and used old satellite relays to access earth's internet."

"But the available information's have been basically nonexistent. And the little information's which have been made public, directly contradicted our own observations."

Than Nadia continued with the next part of the reply.

"It did not escape our attention that mankind replicated the creature that caused this terrible catastrophe multiple times, for what purpose than we did not know." She said. "We first assumed as mankind so often do it was just another weapon of war, well given the destruction in infrastructure and the resulting scarcity a global war for resources was in the end a plausible scenario."

"Then however in 2105 a hacker from the anonymous collective leaked documents detailing Project-E. It became apparent that all parties manufacturing this Evangelions ware working together and that the enemy to be fought would be not at all human in nature."

She paused to take a short breath.

"And well we have been observing you closely ever since, we have seen the creature attacking Neo Tokio-3 and, excuse my harsh words, your incompetent attempt at fighting it." She said.

"Never the less we successfully defeated the angel" the commander said.

"That you did indeed, but let's be honest it was more dumb luck than skill" Trax said with an rather arrogant smile. "With our help I'm sure we can make the outcome of future confrontations more certain."

"You are awfully sure of yourself." Gendo said.

"Well our current job is saving a species from extinction; we are what you call experts!" Trax said laughing.

"Really?! From all I can tell the Taelon situation haven't improved yet, if it did I guess they would be back or they would not care what happens on earth." the commander responded "You coming here alone proves to me that this aliens are still patiently awaiting their salvation."

Gendo wasn't wrong. Before the second impact Trax and Nadia spent decades searching for the world Nadia's people came from before they ended up on earth tens of thousands years ago. It was a highly advanced civilization which they assumed would have the means to help the Taelons. Almost nothing remained left of this civilization on earth and no scientific progress has been made for many millennia. On Nadia's "home world" however they would have been vastly more advanced or so they thought. This search however while it lasted did not yield any results not even solid leads where to go. Simply too much knowledge has been lost to time and all inhabitable planets they visited would provide no hints as to the location of the atlantean home world. The terrible catastrophe called the second impact on earth was in that regard sort of a blessing. The long lost satellite city "Red Noah", one of two generation-ships the atlanteans used to come to earth, reactivated and our two protagonists could localize it. In contrary to the other ship "Blue Noah" this one wasn't a ruin; its autonomous systems maintained it quite well actually. That is for something that no living sole have visited in ten thousand years, hence retrieving workable star maps or even course data would still be a task for years or decades. But now at least they head a new chance to find Marduk, the planet Nadia ancestors came from so long ago.

"Be it as it may." Nadia interrupted " You can't dispute our potential usefulness to the project."

"We have unique scientific insight and access to highly advanced technology." She added.

"That appears to be true, but your allegiance is with the aliens, you are their keepers." Comander Ikari said "Your plans for mankind may not be in our best interest."

"Well we at least need you not to dye and to continue on the path of scientific progress." Trax said. "I would argue this is a very reasonable basis for cooperation."

"Assuming that is indeed true and we would agree to work with you." the commander said "what are you offering exactly?"

"Or should I say, what do you want from us?" he added.

"For starters how about getting rid of this unpractical power cord's your war machines require?" Trax offered. "A compact fusion reactor as it is used for example to power our shuttles should provide more than enough power for an EVA."

"About what we want, just full unrestricted access to all your research on this creatures you call angels." Trax said.

"Just?!" sub commander Fuyutsuki repeated somewhat shocked by the direct demand for all they kept secret for the last decades.

"Well they seem to have some unique capabilities." Nadia said "And if we are going to work on devising strategy's to defeat them this information's are of up most importance."

"If we shell decide to cooperate we will share our intel only on a need to know basis, in the end you ae agents of a forign power." The sub commander said.

"Can you be more specific about what kind of cooperation you have in mind? Access to the mothership, military support even or rather just your knowledge." The commander asked.

"Given the state of the Taelons even partial access to the mothership is currently out of question." Trax said "We would intent mostly to provide or knowledge and techlological knowhow working with you here."

"We would be however ok with bring in single visitors to the mothership if required." Nadia added.

"Why wouldn't you be ok giving us access to the mothership if it can help?" Misato asked.

"What you ask from us is in the end the same, access to our infrastructure." She added.

"The situation is not the same you have guards everywhere, and an army on standby." Trax replied.

"The mothership is basically empty, if we would bring more than a few people on board especially if they would need some kind of system access the risk of you seizing control over the mother ship is too high." Trax said.

"Besides, there is nothing you could do better from the ship that you cannot do here with restricted remote access." Nadia added.

"But you would provide for example remote access to the ships sensors." Sub commander Fuyutsuki asked.

"Yes, but like you we are not going to fully cooperate, instead we will share our assets only if necessary." Trax said.

"Access to these scanners would be very helpful for sure." Ritsuko said.

"Yes it would be there is no doubt in that, but that would give you unique tactical asses not just against the angels but also against other nations, like for industrial espionage." Nadia explained.

"I don't think it is nice to hold back on us when mankind's faith is at stake." Misato interrupted.

"Hehe, the same applies for you but your boss just put similar restrictions in place." Trax responded.

"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves, the issue here is for both of us trust, none of us has yet any basis to trust the other party those a full disclosure would not be reasonable." Ritsuko said. "However when a cooperation shows to be fruitful for both parties we can extent the level of cooperation."

"Before we negotiate the terms of any cooperation we first have to agree on cooperation in the first place." Fuyutsuki said.

"I will consider your proposal, for now I think we are done." Gendo said. "How can we get in touch with you once we reached a decision."

Trax but a business card on the commanders desk.

"Just eMail us we have access to earth's internet." Trax said.

"Captain bring our visitors back to their ship." Gendo said.

"And just for further reference, we will not take another invasion of our airspace so kindly next time." Gendo said.

Trax and Nadia are being flown back to their shuttle with Misato

"Say what are you?" Misato asked.

"What do you mean?" Nadia asked back.

"Well you can't be human, humans don't age that well, but you don't look like Taelons eider." Misato said. "So what are you?"

"That depends whom you asking." Nadia replied.

"Legally we are booth earth citizens." Trax added.

"So was Ritsuko right and you spent most of the time in some kind of stasis?" Misato asked.

"No we did not, we really have lived already very long lives." Trax said.

"Let's simply say it's complicated, but before anything its private." Nadia added.

"I suppose to be an earthling all it takes it so be born here, no matter what species you are." Misato said.

Later, back on the mothership

Well that went quite promising. T

Yes indeed. N

Do you really think its wise to allow visitors on the ship? T

Well I can't see what harm a single person can do without any access to any system. N

And such a visit proves defiantly our claims.

Meanwhile in commander Ikari office.

"Do you think its wise to allow them to work for NERV?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"They could seriously jeopardize our plans." He added.

"I know, but I don't really see that we would have another option." Gendo replied.

"If we deny their request they will just go to a higher authority." He added. "And that may be even worse. The UN will surly welcome their intervention. Them coming directly to us tells me that they are not keen on publicity, they want to reach their goals with as little attention as possible."

"Are you suggesting we keep their participation a secret from the committee?" The sub commander asked.

"I don't know about the committee their have eyes and ears every ware. But we must keep this cooperation a secret form the UN." Gendo said.

"What about their offering to provide a permanent energy source for the Evangelions." Fuyutsuki asked.

"That might be a major issue, but I think that given the tactical significance of the EVAs. We can make a good case against directly using any alien technology." Gendo replied.

"Indeed using technology our scientists does not fully understand and are often even unable to reproduce would mean forfeiting our sovereignty to a foreign power." The sub commander agreed. "That would be inacceptable. Hence researching S2 technology will remain a valid high priority objective.

"Besides it should not be that difficult to discredit this technology when needed, a series accident can be orchestrated very easily." Gendo added.

"I am more worried about what their true objective might be." The commander said.

"What do you mean?" the sub commander asked.

"The human instrumentality project, seeks to change the source of human evolution." Gendo replied "It's a similar objective to what the Taelons came to earth for."

"You think they may intent to use the angels to get their species out of the evolutionary blind alley they got themselves into." Fuyutsuki said.

"Think about it, we never learned why exactly they came to earth, what Ma'el discovered that was supposed to bring them their salvation." Gendo said.

"I see…." The sub commander said.


	4. Cooperation

Gendo ordered Captain Katsuragi to his office.

I have decided to allow these two Taelon emissaries to work for NERV in R&D. – the commander said.

The sub commander stood by, trying to hide his disapproval of the decision. Fuyutsuki was born in 2056 so 14 years after the Taelons left earth suddenly and he witnessed the aftermath of a large scale infrastructure collapse and the slow recovery from it. Hence his trust in a new cooperation with the Taelons was very limited to say the least.

I have already informed Dr. Akagi to find some suitable tasks for them that would allow us to get a better picture of their capabilities while not giving them access to any really sensitive information's. – Gendo added.

They will arrive here today afternoon; you are to wait for them by gate 6 at 14:00 with their new ID cards. – Gendo said.

The ID cards are required to access NERV, this are chip cards identifying the owner which are used for the access control.

Commander, how much am I allowed to tell them about the angels and our mission? – Misato asked.

The standard briefing as any other scientific NERV personnel gets. – Fuyutsuki answered.

This basically means she can tell Trax and Nadia from the interesting things, regarding the angels and the second impact, all she knows.

Later, Trax and Nadia arrived at Gate 6 where Misato was already waiting for them.

Hi Misato – Nadia said – how are you?

Hello you two, I'm fine thanks for asking. I brought your ID cards. – she grinned, and gave them their new documents.

Thanks – they booth said simultaneously.

So will you give us a tour through NERV? – Trax Asked.

We would like to meet the pilots of the Evangelions. – Nadia added.

Well one of the pilots was injured during an activation test with Unit-00 and is still in a hospital, but the other one, Shinji, should be back from school soon than you can talk to him. – Misato said.

NERV uses currently only children at the age of about 14 as pilots. Any attempt to connect an EVA with a grown up pilot to date resulted in death or severe brain damage. Supposedly the reason for that is yet unknown.

Later in the NERV HQ, Misato is showing unit 01 to the two visitors.

To fight the angels you are using a creature cloned from them? – Nadia asked.

It's the only thing as powerful as an angel. – Misato replied – you have seen it yourself even an N2 mine couldn't stop the angel that was attacking us a few days ago.

Well we shall see about that. – Trax said – I'm pretty confident that there are more conventional means one can come up with to destroy one of this angels.

Ritsuko heard the discussion while entering the room.

We have spent 15 years researching means of defense, there is no other. – she said.

Hi Dr. Akagi – Trax Said – good that you are here, we have many questions for you.

How is it that the angels and the evangelions don't collapse under their own weight? – Nadia asked.

Given their size the body proportions could never support their mass. – she added.

That is confidential – Ritsuko answered.

Ah… com on Dr. if we are going to work together, you could at least share the obvious things. – Trax said.

I think it is given that you don't have the necessary technology to create a structural integrity field. – Trax added.

So given that assumption and the fact that you store the EVA's in liquid, probably having a density matching the cloned tissue, you must have other means of preventing them from breaking down when they are being deployed. – Nadia said.

And almost certainly it's the same mechanism the angels use. – Trax added.

Our best guess would be that this AT-Field the angels use can be used also to increase the structural integrity of biological tissue. – Nadia said.

That was a guess, but it was spot on! When operating, the EVA's AT field is always active at a basic level keeping its body from collapsing under its tremendous weight. An Evangelion is about 40 meters high and weighs about 1,200.00 tons.

The next pressing issue we came across is that according to your own statements your goal is to prevent an event like 15 years ago. – Trax said – However it is no ware specified how such an event would be triggered by these angel creatures.

Why have one of them attacked exactly where you prepared all of your defenses. – Nadia added. – Is here something that is attracting the angels?

That is also confidential – Ritsuko answered.

Gendo and Fuyutsuki are observing the visitors in units 01 "cage" on the surveillance cameras.

I told you they will be trouble. – The sub commander said – Not even two hours here and they are already poking around subjects that should not be touched by outsiders.

Later during the day.

So that was it. – Misato said. – well at least the parts of our HQ I'm allowed to show you.

When will we get the information required for us to start working? – Trax asked.

Ritsuko is still compiling that dossiers on the angels and our tech, many things are confidential. – Misato answered – In the meantime, I can show you the accommodation you requested.

Working out of a hidden base every day if you have an official position is probably not the best thing, definitely it's not the most convenient, so Trax and Nadia requested earlier some adequate accommodation in Neo-Tokio 3.

Well you would apparently save a lot of work if you would just give us the unredacted files – Nadia said and smiled.

Yea, that's not going to happen anytime soon – Misato answered – You wanted to meet one of the pilots earlier, we can combine that with visiting the place I found for you.

Misato is living in a high-rise building in Neo-Tokyo 3 and since she did not wanted unit 01's pilot Shinji to live alone she let him live at her place. For reasons known only to herself she decided to locate Trax an Nadia in the same building complex.

After an about 20 minute drive the three arrived at the apartment complex. A few minutes later they arrived at the apartment Misato picked.

So how you like it – she asked.

It's small – Nadia said – That's not what we meant with "adequate"

The ceiling height is unpleasantly low. – Trax added – it's like living in a shoo box.

None of our two protagonist's are especially high grown, booth ware rather average in that regard. However being used to a certain level of comfort modern Japanese apartments have been anything but well suited.

Well all apartment buildings in Neo-Tokio have a ceiling height of 2,5m. – Misato said – But I may be able to find something with more square meters at least.

I have a better idea. – Trax said – just give us 4 apartments, two side by side on two story's directly one under the other.

And then? – Misato asked confused.

We will break out the ceiling and some walls and make something nice out of it – Nadia said.

Are you serious? – Misato asked.

Yes absolutely! – Nadia answered.

Do you have any idea what that would cost? – Misato asked.

Money does not matter. – Trax Said – We keep the powers of attorney for the Taelon holding company, so really we can afford anything.

The Taelon holding company was created when the Taelons left earth to maintain their earth bound assets. As of 2115 it's still by far the largest holding company on earth.

Fine – Misato said – most of the building is unoccupied anyways.

Let's go grab some dinner, Shinji should be by now done with cooking – she added.

In Misatos apartment.

So you are the pilot of unit 01 – Trax asked.

Yes, I guess. – Shinji replied.

Isn't that an insanely dangerous occupation for a 14 year old? – Nadia asked.

It's why my father brought me here. – Shinji answered.

And you always just do what others ask of you? – Trax asked

Shinji did not answer.

Later evening in Trax and Nadia's secret lair.

They did not disclose anything about why the angels are coming here – Trax said.

I'm sure the higher ups in the NERV hierarchy know the reason – Nadia said.

There must be something here what they found and want to protect – She added – in the end the structure they are using as geo front was created by my ancestors.

Well we know that the atlanteans created only two arch angels, Adam and Lilith that would be capable of causing an extinction Level event. – Trax said – The angels Adam spawn are unable to generate enough field energy on their own. They were supposed to find his body and merge with it in order to do that.

But for what we know Adams old body was decimated during the recent catastrophe on the South Pole. – Nadia said.

Still we don't know if it was completely destroyed – Trax added – besides there still should be Lilith some ware.

I can't believe she would try to harm humanity in this way, in contrary to Adam that was made with a free will, she was created with a strong motivational imperative to obey the wishes of the Atlantean royal family and to protect humanity at all cost.

Well in the end it's an intelligent creature capable of adapting herself to the environment, live evolution one could say. – Trax said – In 10000 years a lot can change.

When I was very young before the revolution my father took me once to see Lilith, I never knew where this place was, but I remember it very clearly. – Nadia said – I so nothing in her sole that would indicate that she would want to destroy the world.

Ok, what if the angels changed objective after the South Pole explosion and now are trying to hijack Lilith? – Trax asked.

This would be strange to say the least; they waited for 10000 years for Adams location to be revealed to them. – Nadia said – If they could do that, they would have long time ago, something must have changed!

When Adam turned against the Atlanteans, after he was defeated his body and soul have been separated and both have been stored separately. Hence the body was completely dormant and none of the angels he spawn could sense his location.

Well for once their primary plan was scrapped. – Trax said.

Lilith is an arch angel she should easily be capable of defeating any and all of Adams descendants. – Nadia said – in the end she was also capable to defeat Adam.

Well so there are two possible conclusions – Trax said – eider they are keeping here whatever remained of Adams original body and that's what is attracting the angels, or for whatever reason the angels are now capable of subduing Lilith.

Given the magnitude of the destruction it's unlikely that enough, if anything, of Adams body remained. – Nadia said with a very worried tone of voice – And the Geo Front being a part of an old Atlantean base would suggest that this is where Lilith has been kept for so many millennia.

Ok, going after Lilith may be a desperate action on the side of the angels, but if she indeed is so powerful why would NERV need at all to use evangelions to protect the base? – Trax asked.

I'm afraid NERV may have done something to Lilith that made her defenseless. – Nadia said.

That is indeed a possible scenario, but it may also be that more of the first angel remained than we think. – Trax added.


	5. An Angel meets God

Nadia is working together with Dr. Akagi on implementing some new safeguards in the pilot's neural interface.

I have good news – Ritsuko said. – Rei the pilot of unit 00 is today getting out of the hospital.

That's great. – Nadia said.

We will test this interface modifications of yours later today in unit 00 – Ritsuko said enthusiastically.

What?! – Nadia asked – you just took the unit out of stasis, most of the damages from the last failed activation experiment are not even repaired. Besides rei just got better, how can you ask that of her so soon after the last incident?!

It is her job, her purpose – Ritsuko answered cold – for this test the physical damage on the EVA is irrelevant and the central nervous system is fine.

It's not fine! You don't even know what cause the unit to run amok the last time. – Nadia said angry.

Well let's hope than your improvements are as good as you promised – Ritsuko answered.

Later In a cafeteria in the HQ, Trax and Nadia are eating lunch.

They have so many surveillance cameras here it feels like in London in the early 21 century – Trax thinks.

Well it's unpleasant but they have so many things to hide; no level of paranoia is enough I guess – Nadia thought as a reply.

How's your work with Dr. Akagi? – Trax asked silently.

She is rushing things, they should not put Rei into the field so soon after the accident, she don't even fully recovered. – Nadia answered.

Yea that's true, but on the other hand we will finally get to meet the first Evangelion pilot in person. – Trax thought.

Yes I have to admit I'm looking forward to that. – Nadia replied.

During the past days unit 00 have been retrieved from the test station and placed back into its cage for repairs. Most of the damages ware superficial but due to the hard power off and the subsequent breakdown of the AT field some significant damages occurred to the bone structure which without the artificially increased structural integrity could not properly support the EVA's body mass. This requires some longer repairs and the EVA will be probably fully regenerated in one or may be two weeks.

Now in the control room of EVA Cages.

Hi Rei – Nadia said – how are you? I'm sorry that Dr. Akagi wants to do the test so early.

I'm ok, its ok – Rei answered in her usually apathetic tone of voice.

So let's do it! – Ritsuko said enthusiastically – Keep Unit 00 on minimal power, it's not an activation test we only want to check the new interface.

Contact phase 1 initializing – Maya said.

Initialize A10 connection – Hyuga said.

Contact phase 2 running – Maya said. – All values within operational parameters.

Activating synapsis, initializing neural link – Another operator said.

Impulse transfer running – yet another operator said.

Neuronal connection initializing – Hyuga said.

No issues with the initial contact – Maya said.

Neuronal connection established – Hyuga said.

All synapsis nominal – Maya said.

Ok that's good, how is the signal noise on the axons? – Ritsuko asked.

For security reasons no Taelon personal is allowed to work directly with an EVA unit, so Nadia can only observe the test.

The signal noise is below 10 mV – Maya said – That's incredible!

It looks good – Ritsuko said.

I told you it would work – Nadia said self-confident and smiled.

Can you detect any signal back flow? – Ritsuko asked.

Not yet, but during the last activation test this issue appeared only after the activation. – Maya replied.

Ok, let's finish the test. – Ritsuko commanded.

Neuronal connection terminated – Hyuga said – Ejecting entry plug.

If you don't mind, I'll go now to finally meet Rei in person – Nadia said while leaving the control room.

Yea, yea… what ever. – Ritsuko answered uninterested, she was occupied with the results of the test.

A few minutes later in EVAs 00 cage, the entry plug was just fully removed and opened. Nadia is waiting to meet the pilot of unit 00 in person. Since she saw Rei for the first time when investigating NERV she was very curious about that strange red eyed girl. Something about her just does not seem right but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. Since Rei was in public usually tailed by NERV security personal an arranged "casual" meeting was out of the question.

Rei got out of the entry plug, Nadia approached.

Hi, – she said and smiled – so you are the first Evangelion pilot?

When Rei saw Nadia she froze, she was like paralyzed, she tried to speak but couldn't – Is that fear, or just excitement… – she thought, her heart was pounding like never before.

Nadia slowly approached a step closer and reached out to shake Reis hand, as it's a custom on earth to greet someone. Rei unwillingly has reciprocated the gesture. Once they hands touched Rei relaxed a bit.

Yes I'm Rei Ayanami – she said, not being sure if she replied voluntarily or not. In this moment she would do absolutely anything princess Nadia would ask of her.

It's strange … – Nadia thought – it's like I have met her before.

Nadia approached a bit closer and looked deeply into Reis eyes – Have we met before – she asked.

I don't remember – Rei answered.

That can't be – Nadia thought – it should be impossible.

Rei how old are you? – Nadia asked.

I don't know – Rei answered – my file says I'm 14 years old.

Ok... Then, what's the earliest date you can recall? – Nadia asked.

Rei tilted her head – November fifteenth 2109 – she said after a moment.

And before then – Nadia asked?

Rei looked down – My first memory is I think waking up in a large tank of LCL, commander Ikari was standing in front of it. – She answered.

Than I was brought to a room, now I would say it looked like in a hospital. I spent there a very long time. – Rei said.

This information's have been classified, Rei have been ordered to never talk to anyone about her childhood, but when Nadia asked she had to answer.

That's sounds very boring – Nadia said.

It was Ok, I got many books to read. At the end I had a huge book shelf. – Rei said.

Books, like on paper? – Nadia asked.

Yes before I was allowed to leave the laboratory I had no contact to the outside world. – Rei said.

Rei, this body of yours – Nadia said – I think it's about 10 years old.

Thank you – Rei said and smiled.

I have to go, but since I'm working here now we will have more occasions to talk. – Nadia said.

I'm looking forward to it – Rei said.

Nadia left towards an elevator, and went into the direction of the lab Trax was currently working on a converter that would allow connecting a regular electrical load to the EPS (electro-plasma system) output of a Taelon fusion reactor as they are used in shuttles.

This girl, she has Liliths sole. – Nadia thought – But that's impossible she isn't Lilith yet somehow she is, that can't be.

Apparently NERV figured out a way to make it possible. – Trax thought – No matter how unlikely that appears, it fits well with our assumption that Lilith is out of commission.

But how could they have captured her sole into this body? – Nadia asked – it can't be compatible. Lilith was an arch angel as large as Adam.

Well but this body of hers it's not entirely human, – Trax said – you felt that very clearly.

It's not possible to determine where a sole will be reborn; it can be only transferred it between compatible minds. – Nadia thought.

The atlanteans head a lot of experience in the past with transferring minds and soles, it is tolled that atlanteans never really die; instead their minds are transferred into a holy artefact, one of the 4 element stones created billions of years ago by the Ancients. Also the Taelons did their share of experiments on that subject. They were capable of transferring the mind and soul of a patient to a previously brain dead body (Episode 1x17 "The Devil You Know") as well as into a non-biological surrogate body (Episode 2x12 "One Man's Castle"). In the latter case however a transfer back was not possible as the generated system quickly diverged too much from the original biological neuro template and the changes ware not back portable.

Strictly speaking between systems that can create a compatible coherent state across its entire neural network, only the total wave function has to be similar enough. – Trax explained – In the end your ancestors could imprison Adams sole in a small device.

That vessel was a highly integrated Orichalcum circuit – Nadia disputed – no way, NERV would be able to reproduce that technology.

Orichalcum is a super heavy element which similarly to dilithium crystals (see StarTrek warp technology) is one of the elements with the atomic numbers between 170 and 190 where current day physicists speculate there may be again some elements with half-lives longer than uranium. Orichalcum is the only that is fully stable, while it has a ectremly high atomical mass of 352 u its density is however very low its only 2,5 g/cm³ (i.e. comparable to glass).

Yet they figured out a way how to fit Liliths mind into that human sized biological brain of Rei. – Trax said – No wonder she has no memories from before.

Stop that, that's awful! – Nadia said, she did not even wanted to think what horrific procedures would probably have been necessary to reduce the complexity of Liliths neural network enough such that it could be replicated in a size fitting a human skull.

Nadia arrived at Trax's lab and entered.

We should go for a walk! – She commanded.

A few minutes later inside the geo front far enough from any infrastructure to be sure no one is eavesdropping.

You really think that they somehow managed to put Liliths mind into Rei – Nadia asked.

Well since they couldn't extinguish her mind and influence where the sole would be reborn, that's the only other explanation. – Trax answered.

I may be wrong – Nadia said doubtful – maybe she is just a human angel hybrid.

You have never been wrong before in these matters – Trax said – I'm sure your impressions ware correct.

But why would she allow the humans to do that to her? – Nadia asked.

I don't know, may be for some reason she thought that was the only way for mankind to survive – Trax speculated.

But that's wrong – Nadia said – If Adams body was destroyed during the "second impact" than as long as Lilith would remain fully alive the angels wouldn't be a threat at all.

Well that's true – Trax said – also, since they removed her sole from her original body, they could have just destroyed it and there would be no way for a so called "third impact" at all.

Do you think they triggered the "Second Impact" on purpose – Nadia asked – I mean to destroy Adams body. If so than destroying Liliths body may not be a viable option, as it would result in an even larger explosion.

That could be! I did not think about that possibility – Trax admitted – But than we are back at the question why removing her sole in the first place and exposing the world to the risk of an even worse outcome?

The worst case here is not just a huge explosion (like the "second impact") but the extinction of all biological live on earth without exception. Whoever possesses the power of an arch angel has the power to reshape live on earth and that includes the possibility to just end it.

Eider borderline incompetence or someone very high in the chain of command wants to change the course of evolution on earth completely. – Nadia said.

I'm worried that here Hanlon's razor "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." may be wrong – Trax said.


	6. how that all fits together

In order not to disclose to many interesting things about the far past we start in 18xx when the back story to blue water took place, a.k.a. the revolution in Tartessos when gargoyle planned to take control over what was left of the Atlantean civilization on earth.  
The revolution takes place when Nadia is a few years old, in contrast to the original story, when Tartessos gets destroyed she does not get lost but escapes with her father (Nemo) the ex king of Tartessos and other survivals that will form the resistance against Gargoyles plans to use the power of Atlantis to take over the world.  
Devastated by the lost of his son and his wife Nemo swears vengeance against gargoyle and his new empire Neo Atlantis. To ensure that his daughter will be safe from Gargoyle and his minions he decides to put her together with the key to the power of Atlantis the Blue Water stone into stasis hidden away on a secret outpost.

When Nemo fights Gargoyle at a later point in time both dye. Since Nadia was not involved in this course of events the antique satellite city Red Noah stays dormant on the bottom of the ocean and thus donâ t get destroyed in the fight tween Gargoyle and Nemo.  
Then those who survived the war against Gargoyles Neo Atlantis decide to create a secret organization dedicated to keep dangerous Atlantean technology out of man kinds hands and the existence of their lost civilization a secret.  
In the 20 century in the early 90â s a group of explorers from this secret society discovers the hiding place of the last surviving member of the Atlantean royal family a,k.a. Nadia. They awake her from the century's long stasis and she grows up in the modern age.  
In the early 21 century she meets Trax a young scientist with an impeccable understanding for technology. She recruits him to help her and her secret society to reactivate antique Atlantean technology that was long lost.

Some decades pass and the Taelons come to earth (from the series earth final conflict) this are humanoid aliens mostly made up of energy. They appear peaceful and claim they want help men kind in their progress, they call them selves the companions.  
As the story develops it becomes apparent that the Taelons have arterial motives. Man kind learns that they need something they call core energy to survive, and that they lost the capability to reproduce. They seek a way to fix that problem and apparently they are convinced they can find a solution on earth.  
A antique Taelon called Ma'el whom visited earth two thousand years ago supposedly discovered means to save his kind, but being worried how the Taelons may choose to threat man kind, he did not shared much about his discovery with his kind and later dyed on earth of old age.

This part of the time line roughly fits seasons 1-4 of final conflict however the ending of season 4 is significantly altered and season 5 got scrapped altogether (since it was really really bad).  
The new ending: The Taelons started running out of core energy for good, Ma'el's the original plan for this situation was for them to go into stasis and wait for man kind to reach a sufficient level of development to be able to help them.  
But due to the more and more aggressive stand of he Taelons as they last days started coming near, the tensions between them and humans started to grow.  
Zo'or the leader of the Taelon synod was not willing to risk the survival of his species on the good will of man kind. He decided as a last resort to extinguish human kind and repopulate the planet with replicants which would contain minds of dedicated Taelon supporters and would be equipped as a fail safe with a motivational imperative to serve the Taelons before anything else. Thus hopefully sooner or later fining a solution and waking up the Taelons waiting in stasis.  
This sinister plan was cut short by Da'an the North American Companion. With his protector (personal bodyguard) Liam Kincaid (a Kimera/Human Hybrid), whom was also a double-agent for the Resistance, they crossed paths with Trax and Nadia multiple times. Da'an know that if Zo'or would start implementing his plan, Nadia would use the "tower of babel" to destroy the Taelon mothership. So he informed them up front about Zo'or's plans and gave them the access codes to the mothership board computer. Before Zo'or could start his plan Trax and Nadia boarded the mothership and took over control. They gave an ultimatum to Zo'or and the synod they could eider go in stasis and hope for the best or well there is no or... having no control over the ship's systems the synod head to comply with what Da'an's coup d'etat.  
Da'an however did not cooperated with Trax and Nadia unconditionally, he bargain for a very high price. Trax and Nadia head to agree to personally guarantee the Taelons survival. A deal that demanded Nadia to spend some of the power of Atlantis she inherited to replenish the ships core energy reserves, and to spend possibly centuries on fining a solution for the Taelons problem.  
And well, all Taelons went to stasis, that is except Da'an whom due to a past failed experiment head his own core energy replenished and a full timespan of ten thousand years in front of him.

Since man kind was not very fond of the companions anymore the most promising course of action for them was to try to find the world from which Nadias people came all his millennias ago.  
They spent a better part of a century on searching for Nadias home world, a task that unfortunately appeared to be more difficult than anticipated.  
In the mean time on earth humanity was recovering from the Taelons leaving, what caused a lot of infrastructure like the portal network etc, that was Dependant on the Taelons to stop working.

In the year 2100 the Katsuragi expedition found mysterious ruins deep under the Antarctic ice cover. They found remains of a technologically highly advanced civilization from a time long before Ma'el came to earth. And well they ware messing around with some specimens they found what as everyone knows resulted in the second impact.  
This dramatic event did not go unnoticed on the Taelon mothership the lost of almost half of the words population was a unprecedented catastrophe. Hence Trax and Nadia returned to earth.  
With the inter-dimensional drive of the Taelons they ware there to watch the after math of this catastrophe only a few hours after it happened. The understanding they head with the Taelons, while obliging them to focus on the Taelon problem, however stipulated that any significant risks to man kinds survival would take precedence. (Besides for every practical purpose any agreement was unenforceable anyways)

The mothership remained hidden while Trax and Nadia came back on earth to find what was left if anything from the secret society once tasked with safe guarding the Atlantean legacy and to find out what happened in Antarctica...


	7. Catching an Angel (03,04)

One of Da'an's orbital probes has detected an energy signature similar to the one of the first angel; he immediately notified Trax and Nadia about the situation.

Based on the previous angel movement when you assume the creature will attack? – Trax asked.

Difficult to say, the previous creature wondered around quite a bit in the Pacific Ocean, this one appears to move much more directed towards Neo Tokio 3. – Da'an said – My guess would be that it will attack some time tomorrow already. – He speculated.

That's much faster than the previous one – Nadia said – relay the coordinates to NERV, we will head there shortly.

05:38 in the morning in NERV's HQ, Misato just entered the command room. An angel alert so very early in the morning was one of the things to effectively ruin a whole day.

Where is it right now? – Misato asked.

According to the data relayed from the Taelon Mothership it's in the northern pacific at GPS coordinates 16.010974, 152.648807 heading North West strait for Neo Tokio 3, it moves at about 54 Knots. – Aoba replied – It will be here tomorrow morning.

We have deployed a surveillance aircraft to verify the sighting, at 08:00 it will drop some sensor buoys in the path of the energy signature – Hyuga said.

Do you have any countermeasures that could be used on this large range – Trax asked.

No – Hyuga answered.

Ok, but since the angel is so far out you could ask the UN to drop one of the bigger N2 mines onto the target – Nadia said – no one will mind a hundred kilometer deep crater some ware in the middle of the ocean.

We have already seen with the previous creature that a small N2 mine could damage it, so it stands to reason that a sufficiently large blast will cause irreparable damage – Trax added.

Defeating the Angels is our purpose – Sub commander Fuyutsuki said – We will not ask the UN to do our job.

Commander Ikari was currently on a business trip so Fuyutsuki was the one in charge.

Besides such a large detonation in the middle of the ocean could have a severe impact on the ecosystem. Using an Evangelion on the other hand would result in comparably minimal damages. – He added.

Well if you would have granted my last requests for additional material and manpower, we could have already now a working prototype of the external energy source. – Trax said – With it you could deploy an Evangelion any ware in the world.

The progress of this particular project would be inconsequential for the issue at hand – the sub commander said – we would not risk our only working EVA sending it to a deep see battle with an prototype equipment.

That's a good point you are making their commander – Nadia said – you only have one working EVA unit and for that only an amateur pilot. Isn't sending those into betel a far too great risk if there is the alternative for a safe air strike that would possibly destroy or at least severely damage the enemy?

That was an irrefutable argument, betting man kinds survival on one single weapon operated by a child, was in the end the worst possible solution. Just that for what the official story was, it was the only solution. NERV's reluctance to even consider any other means of defense however suggested that they have an ulterior purpose for the EVA program and did not want to risk the funding.

We may not get another chance like that for a preemptive strike! – she continued.

What do you mean? – Ritsuko asked.

Our sensors ware able to pick up signals from the first angel to attack 3 days before he arrived here. – Nadia said – however this one we could detect only few hours ago.

Of cause you cannot make any definitive statements based only on two data points. But the worst case interpretation of the observed behavior would indicate that the angels are picking up in pace so the next time we may be able to detect it only a few hours before it arrives. – She explained. – A chance like this may not present itself again.

I agree we should try whatever we can to stop the angel before it arrives here. – Captain Katsuragi said.

Before we make any hasty decisions let's wait for the results of the surveillance flight, if it's really an angel. I will notify the commander in the meantime. – The sub commander said and left the command room. Since Gendo's business trip was to a secret location he left contact data only to his second in command.

Misato looked on the main screen showing a live satellite image tracking the position of the energy signature. On the image something could be seen through the waves, a large shadow, but with no discernable shape could be an angel but could also just be a wale. Well that is if they were not extinct.

That's an angel, all right – she thought. Waiting for confirmation appeared as waist of precious time. Nadia was right an opportunity on a preemptive strike should not be wasted.

These two Taelon visitors have stirred up questions she couldn't stop thinking about. Why indeed are the angels attacking just here? How was the second impact triggered, if these angels could just blow up, destroying half a continent, why coming here and fighting? Besides when the last one exploded after he was mortally wounded it just leveled a few square kilometers. And now this: Why is NERV's leadership so opposed to using any other means of defense? When she started working for NERV only very little information's ware public but apparently NERV wasn't ready to give out any more details even to its high level operatives. All information's ware shared on a need to know basis, and she being in charge of just defending the base apparently did not need to know. Getting more insight from old documents leaked 10 years ago than from NERV itself was frustrating to say the least. She was wondering how much more Dr. Akagi must know about the situation, she was in the end in charge of the R&D department so she needed to know a lot. But Ritsuko was not a person to talk much about her job she always compartmentalized her life.

Later, 08:12 in NERV's HQ.

Sensor buoys deployed – Aoba Said – We are receiving data.

Put the video feed on screen – Ritsuko said.

An image of a large strange creature appeared on the main screen.

It's not humanoid like the previous one – Trax said – That's unexpected.

Analysis? – Ritsuko asked.

The MAGI system is still evaluating the data – Maya said – We have a result, energy signature code blue!

So it's really an angel – Hyuga said – damn it I didn't think they would attack so quickly one after another.

How far away is it? – Misato asked

About 2500 kilometers – Aoba answered.

Commander we should really consider a preemptive strike! – Misato said – Shinji is not yet ready for a real fight, when Trax said back then that we won only due to sheer luck he was right. We should do whatever we can to make Shinjis job easier, even if the N2 mine does not destroy the angel it may cripple it or at least delay its arrival such that Shinji will have some more time for training.

The sub commander did not like this suggestion but confronted with these arguments he couldn't act differently or else it would rise to much suspicions.

Fine, notify the UN – he said.

That went easier than expected – Misato thought. Still the disapproval of the decision was apparent from Fuyutsukis tone of voice.

Ok, Aoba, notify general Lewinski – Misato ordered.

In the mean time we should prepare some defenses, just in case the angel survives the blast. – Misato said.

What do you have in mind? – Ritsuko asked – You saw how ineffective conventional weapons have been the last time.

Well for once we should use the data we just obtained to make a realistic simulation of how the angel may attack such that Shinji can get a dry run in the simulator with the new enemy. – Misato said

And we have already come up with some ideas for other defenses. – She added, shortly before they have bounced a few ideas around that sounded promising.

From our observations of the last angel, it appears that its AT-Field indeed protects it quite well from kinetic blasts; in fact it even deflected most of the N2 mines blast wave. What damaged it was mostly the radiation from the annihilation process; our scans showed that it was not measurably blocked by the AT-Field – Trax said.

So a sufficiently powerful laser should be an effective weapon against this creatures – Trax added.

To what we know about the AT-Field, if it's sufficiently strong, it should be able to block light as well. – Ritsuko argued. That was new information, showing that NERV must have some insight into how the AT Field works that they haven't disclosed yet. The capability to block light was not something that could be extrapolated from the current observations.

Ok, interesting, but apparently the angel you fought recently did not have these particular capabilities. – Trax argued. – So such a weapon would be still effective.

Anyhow another idea we came up with is simpler, while the angel apparently cannot be harmed with a simple physical attack, it can be hindered. Throwing a sufficiently strong net on it should restrict it movements and make it an easy prey for our unit 01. – Misato said.

Where would we get a sufficiently strong yet flexible material? – Ritsuko asked.

Since 2095 the Soviet Federation (not to be confused with the past Soviet Union) was working on an own space elevator to match the North American Empire's achievement. In the time they had they managed to manufacture most of the graphene roping for the construction but due to the second impact the plans ware retired. So the Russian government head a huge stock on unused material well suited to manufacture netting strong enough to hold an angel. Luckily they stored it in the Solnechny District close enough to japan to fly it in on time.

From the Russians, they have just what we need, material that can withstand over 100 Gigapascals, it was manufactured for a space elevator they never build. – Trax said.

That should be strong enough – Ritsuko said – If we manage to immobilize the angel we can attack its energy core directly.

I have already requested the transfer of the material from the Russian government – Misato said – it should arrive here in time.

Two hours later, a UN high altitude bomber has arrived at the current location of the angel.

Approaching target T -20 seconds – the pilot said over coms.

The UN has prepared a 1 megaton mine, it will be deployed some km in front of the angel on its projected path and once the angel comes near enough it will detonate.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, deploying Mine – the pilot said and released the device.

The angel should be in range in 10 minutes – Aoba said.

This bomb is hundred times stronger than the one used on the previous angel this must leave a strong impression on the angel. – Misato said.

It will leave a strong impression on the shore line when the resulting tsunami hits that's for sure – Sub commander Fuyutsuki said with a disapproving tone of voice.

The main screen in the command room zoomed out to show the placement of the mind as well as the angel's position.

Assuming we don't manage to kill it, will we be able to track it? - Ritsuko asked Nadia.

We have directed the motherships sensors on the target, we should be able to. – Nadia answered.

If we don't get close enough to the angel the effect of the explosion will be strongly dampened by the water, ideally the bomb should be triggered in a few meters distance at most – Trax said.

Target approaching mine, its course is still unchanged – Aoba said. – 1000 meters, 750 meters, 500 meters, angel is changing course 15° deviation from projected path.

Damn that will make the closest proximity over 130 meters – Trax said.

Should we readjust the mines position – Aoba asked.

No – Misato answered – the angel is to fast if it perceives the object as a threat we will never be able to get close enough.

Detonate it as soon as the angel will be crossing it to the side – she added.

20 seconds later the mine was detonated as planned. Nadia is using a terminal connected to the Taelon mothership to monitor the sensor feed in real time. The fact that not all Taelons are in stasis has yet not been disclosed to NERV, as Da'an may be a very useful wild card in case of an emergency.

Sensors still in saturation, that was a big explosion… – Nadia said – I receive first clear measurements, no sign of the angel yet.

Wait! The scanners are detecting a faint signal – She added – it appears the angel was not fully vaporized!

What's its condition? – Ritsuko asked.

It appears not to move, its energy output dropped by 90% – Nadia said.

I would bet if we through another N2 Mine on it we will finish it off! – Trax said.

Can you quantify the magnitude of the angel's injuries? – Fuyutsuki asked.

Not in detail but it appears that it lost about half of its body mass, without a close up scan it is difficult to say. – Nadia replied.

Very well, Aoba, relay to the UN that the mine was mostly ineffective – Fuyutsuki said.

But that's not correct! – Trax said.

For what I'm concerned it is – The sub commander replied. The situation was just perfect; using any substantially larger bomb at sea would cause major tsunamis. And as it stands the 1 Megaton device could not obliterate the angel. Granted the execution was flawed but the UN does not have means to determine that.

We are going to capture it! – Fuyutsuki added.

What?! – Misato asked shocked.

We can use this Russian netting of yours to confine what's ever is left of the angel, if we can study it we may come up with means to trap it indefinitely. – Fuyutsuki said.

It is not dead so its energy core must be still intact studying it will be mostly informative. – Ritsuko added.

Apparently you gave that particular outcome already some thought – Trax said – where are you going to transport it to?

That's confidential, but don't worry not to Neo Tokio 3 – Fuyutsuki replied.

Honestly we have full satellite coverage of the planet, you can't expect to transport the angel any ware without us seeing it. – Nadia said.

That was a good point the sub commander have neglected at that moment but was aware of. This darned Taelons ware watching NERV's every move nothing large scale that happens on the earth's unsheltered surface was a secret to them.

That is not an outcome I'm comfortable with – Nadia thought – because of our intervention they now will be in possession of a living angel.

Yes that is most unfortunate – Trax responded – but what do you intent to do?

We have options, leak the situation to the UN, or we just drop an own warhead onto that thing! – Nadia suggested.

An unsanctioned assault from orbit would most certainly mean the end of our access to NERV. – Trax thought – Besides it would be a political night mare.

Although if we leak the data they would suspect a UN mole and not us, Liam could take care of that for sure. – He added.

Well at least we have some time now, the angel is not going any ware anytime soon I guess. – Nadia thought.

The surveillance aircraft is approaching the epicenter ready to drop new sensor buoys. – Aoba said.

Image on the main screen as soon as you have localized what's left of the angel – Misato ordered.

I think I have it – Aoba said and put the video feed on the screen. – No detectable activity, it must have spent most of its energy on counteracting the explosion.

Can you measure any discernable increase in the creatures energy output? – Ritsuko asked.

Not yet, also we know too little about this creatures physiology to make any prognosis on its state – Nadia said.

Well good enough. Notify us imminently when the sensors detect any changes – The sub commander said.

Use the materials we got from the Russians to make a straitjacket for the creature and dispense ships to recover it from the bottom of the ocean. – He commanded.

At this point it's about 10:30 in the morning, since the threat appeared to have been handled; the sub commander ordered half of the command staff to take an early lunch break and switch with the other half at 12:30... The long shift is now on the lunch break; Misato is sitting with Hyuga and our two protagonists around a table in the cafeteria.

I don't like the idea of capturing this thing, we should have killed it – Misato said.

Well if you think so, you just have to tell someone at the UN than another N2 mine would do that job – Trax said.

I can't do that! – Misato replied a little bit shocked by the open suggestion to commit treason.

Ok so, how far is the assembly of the netting? – Trax Asked

Not far, we will do that on our way to pick up the angel – Misato said – three UN destroyers and an aircraft carrier are currently on route to the closest port. They will pick up the supplies and continue to the angel; when they arrive they should be just done with the assembly

So in about one and a half day – Trax said – are you going with them?

Yes – Misato answered – I'm departing at 15:00.

And when you expect to arrive at the angel's location exactly? – Nadia asked

About 17:00 tomorrow – Misato answered. – Till than commander Ikari will be also back from his business Tripp and I sure hope he will overturn the sub commander's decision.

Unlikely – Trax said – he is probably informed or even it was his idea to capture this thing.

Assuming NERV don't want the UN to have a kill on their books, you would need to bring it ashore in japan and let unit 01 finish it off – Trax said. – And that's a substantial risk as we would be bringing it closer to its intended target.

Anyhow, given the frequency of the angel attacks I think we must consider the possibility of two angels attacking simultaneously, – Nadia said – when are you going to bring in unit 02 from Germany?

That is still being debated by the politicians – Misato answered.

12.07.2115 on the Pacific Ocean at 17:30 Misatos expedition arrived at the location of the angel. The main ships bridge has a direct link to the NERV HQ from which the angel is being monitored.

What's the status of the enemy? – Misato asked

The energy output increased by 0.5% since yesterday – Nadia replied, the values are based on the highest energy output measured since the start of observations.

Has it started to regenerate? – Misato asked further.

Not yet, – Aoba answered – it appears still to be dormant.

Very well, deploy the nets! – Misato commanded.

Two of the destroyers dropped one side of the netting and are dragging it along the ocean floor, to pick up the angel. In case that fails they have aboard also some diving robots to pick up the angel and place him into the net.

10 seconds to contact – an operator on the bridge of the aircraft carrier said.

The netting slid just under the Angel.

The energy outputs increased drastically! – Nadia said over the coms – it's now at 15% but does not seem to increase further.

The aforementioned diving robots are also monitoring the angel.

Is it moving? – Misato asked.

There is some activity but it appears the damage was so extensive that it can't really move. – One of the operators of the diving robots said.

No wonder its half burned. Close the net! – Misato ordered.

That worked as expected the angel was confined. To make sure he can't escape the loose net was now pulled together to wrap tight around the creature. Than another layer of cloth was wrapped around multiple times such that in the end it looked like some kind of cocoon or mummy.

Deploy the floatation devices! – Misato said.

The creature in its straitjacket has been pulled to the surface by four enormous air filled balloons.

What is the Status of the angel? – Misato asked.

For the moment it appears to be dormant again – Aoba answered

So than good work everyone mission accomplished! – Misato said.

Later in the evening she returned using an aircraft to Neo Tokio-3 while the angel was hauled to wherever NERV planned to cage him.


	8. Cooking fish in a lake

08:00 in the morning in Trax and Nadia's remodeled apartment.

Ritsuko said that Rei will be today back on duty in NERV, we are preparing the reactivation of Unit 00 – Nadia said.

That's good, for when is the reactivation scheduled? – Trax asked.

It's in three days. – Nadia answered with a worried tone of voice.

They haven't found out what cause the unit to get out of control the last time – Trax asked

Despite their ability to communicate telepathically and even share thoughts memories or sensations, communicating verbally was always a good way to order some thoughts as than the information's go through different neural pathways.

Well Ritsuko says that it was due to an emotional instability of the pilot – Nadia replied – but that's an obvious lie, if it would be so, the unit would have shut down as soon as the entry plug was ejected.

But you are still worried that it may not be misinformation and that your meeting with Rei, may influence her psyche possible in a negative way. – Trax asked.

She may not have recognized me at a conscious level but it was obvious that she had some sort of a strong emotional reaction. – Nadia said – If her body really is cloned form Lilith than it stands to assume that she also has the motivational imperative that was built into Lilith.

That would mean that she is able to recognize you as a member of the royal family – Trax said.

Yes, although, I think since she has no recollection from when she was an arch angel she probably does not know what that means just that I'm different. – Nadia said.

I think you should talk to her again, if our assumptions are correct than she will obey your every wish – Trax said.

I think she must know a lot about Gendos plans and if you ask her she will be compelled to tell you everything she knows – Trax added.

Yea and not tell Gendo – Nadia said – I don't like exploiting someone in this way though.

Later in the Nerv HQ, Nadia arrived in the lab where the activation of unit 00 is being prepared.

Nadia, I talked to commander Ikari, and he agreed to upgrade your security clearance, from now on you are allowed to work on an EVA directly. – Ritsuko informed Nadia.

That's about time – Nadia said – that will make a lot of things easier.

Yes, but keep in mind that you still have to get permission for any modifications you may want to implement – Ritsuko said.

Yes of cause – Nadia said.

Have you finished the specifications for the new signal filters for the entry plug? – Ritsuko asked.

Yes – Nadia replied – I already committed them to the repository.

Ok, I will look through it and if it all looks fine, you can start implementing it today afternoon. – Ritsuko said.

Great! – Nadia said – I will prepare the needed components till then.

In the meantime in Trax's lab, it's placed in a more remote wing of the NERV HQ in case something blows up.

Are you really sure that will work? – A technician asked Trax.

Sure I'm sure, I'm always sure! – Trax answered and laughed.

Yea yea, you said that the last time already – The technician said – and then we head to use the big red "emergency stop" button.

Well it worked! Just not as expected – Trax replied smiling – I'm at least consistent in my optimism.

The technician's name was Vladimir Igorevich he was one of the stuff NERV provided to help Trax with developing a converter that will allow an EVA to operate using a small Taelon fusion reactor.

Is the energy dump ready? – Trax asked.

Yes we can drop up to 2 GWh into the quarry lake – another technician said. His name was Ishikawa.

Perfect just enough to run the system for a bit less than an hour at full power – Trax said.

A Taelon fusion reactor, as used to power their shuttles, has a continues sustainable energy output of 2.5 GW, and a peek output of 25GW, provided in the form of highly charged plasma.

Ok – Trax said – Activate the cooling system for the lepton pump!

That took about a minute.

Operational temperature reached and stable – Ishikawa said.

Ok, engaging EPS relay, generator output 1%– Trax said – what's the system status?

Looks ok – Vladimir said – the waste heat is within operational parameters.

Great! Let's try 10% – Trax said – what's the conversion efficiency?

It's about 96% with that rate it's not going to be possible to run the machine at 100% – Ishikawa said – We will exceed the limits of our cooling system, it is now already at 33% maximum load.

Well the conversion rate should improve at higher power, so let's just try – Trax said – Output to 25%!

You were right, now it improved to about 98% – Ishikawa said.

So we can push it at least to 50% – Trax said.

If you feel comfortable with that – Vladimir said – we by far don't need that much power to run an EVA.

More power Igor! – Trax said laughing – Setting output to 50%!

The cooling system is now at 62% load – Ishikawa said – that is really enough.

Yea, I agree, we should record the long time performance of the system – Trax said – let's run it for a full hour.

30 minutes later.

The waste heat has risen, the cooling system is now operating at 80% – Ishikawa notified Trax.

Hmm… that's not good – Trax said and quickly browsed through the various monitored parameters.

There is a instability in the tertiary confinement coil, it causes some of the plasma to leak resulting in additional energy being dropped into the heatsink – Trax said.

We should abort! – Vladimir said – if the magnet quenches the confinement field will collapse and the apparatus will be severely damaged.

I agree! – Trax said – We must inspect the superconducting joints it's possible that there is a contamination negatively affecting the contact resistance.

Disengaging EPS relay, shutting down generator. – Trax said.

We should continue after the lunch break – Ishikawa said – The system will need some time to cool down.

While Trax was busy wasting perfectly good energy on warming up the quarry lake in the geo front by a few °C, Ritsuko tasked Maya Ibuki with the evaluation of the latest changes Nadia have suggested. Ritsuko entered Mayas bureau.

Have you finished evaluating the layouts for the new signal filters? – Ritsuko asked.

Well, Ritsuko-sempai, not yet. – Maya said frustrated – she's again using theorems and operation principles that I can't find in the literature.

These damn Taelons, I told her a dozen times to write explanations if she refers to alien science. – Ritsuko said annoyed. – Why haven't you called her?

Well, well… – Maya stuttered – … since she always writes down the formulas, or theorems not referring to what it is, it's not obvious to me what's listed in the earths literature and what not.

Maya wanted to avoid a situation like last time when the theorem used, which she did not know and was unable to find, was in fact something that some obscure Russian theoretician came up in 2020.

Send me what you have I will take care of it – Ritsuko said.

Perfect, just perfect another lunch break ruined – She thought.

Rei arrived in the afternoon and went to unit 00 where Nadia was working on upgrading the neural interface in the entry plug with the new signal filters.

She's near – Rei thought – what is she, why do I feel this strange when I'm near her.

Nadia looked out of the entry plugs hatch towards Rei.

Do you want to help me I could use some helping hands. – She said.

Rei followed the request promptly. An entry plug is heavily shielded, and as long as the systems are powered down, like for maintenance there is no surveillance feed. So it's a safe place to talk even for the most paranoid.

What are you? – Rei asked – you are not like all the others.

That is emm… difficult to explain – Nadia said trying to avoid a proper answer.

I'm here to prevent the angels from destroying the world – Nadia said.

Do you know why the angels attack this place? – Nadia asked.

There is a secret sub level 2008 meters beneath Central Dogma it is called Terminal Dogma, there is a large hall in which there is the body of Lilith, one of the arch angels god made. – Rei answered. Central Dogma is the code name for the main section of the NERV HQ.

The angels that are coming here are trying to merge with it in order to gain the powers needed to create a new world – Rei said – the price for creating a new world a new form of live is however the destruction of the old one.

I see… and what is NERV's purpose in all of that? – Nadia asked.

NERV was created for the sole purpose to advance the Human Instrumentality Project, before that all angels must be destroyed. – Rei said.

Rei, you understand that you can never tell anyone about this conversation or about me, especially not commander Ikari! – Nadia said.

Yes, divine empress. – Rei answered, she did not know why she used this particular title to refer to Nadia, it just felt right.

What is the Human Instrumentality Project – Nadia asked.

It's about delivering mankind from its flawed nature, the creation of a new world, a perfect world. – Rei answered.

Rei, but if the price for creating a new world is the destruction of the old one, how can you take part in that? – Nadia asked with a very worried tone of voice.

That is what I have been told I was made for; it's my purpose, the only reason for my existence. – Rei answered.

Tolled by whom? And do you want that? – Nadia asked.

Tolled by the commander. – Rei answered.

Rei! Do you want to do that? – Nadia asked.

Want? It never occurred to me that I have the choice in that matter. – Rei said.

Rei! I give you the choice, do you want this world to end. – Nadia asked again.

Rei thought for a moment.

No, I don't want all those who exist in this world to vanish. – Rei said.

Nadia smiled.

That's good, that's very good – Nadia said – you must remember that, no matter what the commander or anyone else says.

The next day, Misato has invited Ritsuko, Trax and Nadia to a dinner at her and Shinjis place. She prepared some instant food and Shinji is serving it.

What is this – Ritsuko asked.

It's Curry – Misato answered.

So you are still eating this instant stuff. – Ritsuko concluded with a disapproving tone of voice.

You are a guest, so eider eat what I have made, or bring your own food. – Misato said.

At that instance Trax pulled a large thermos can like container from his bag that was sitting next to him.

We came prepared for everything. – He said.

Are you serious, you brought your own food? – Shinji asked.

Yup! – Trax said – We never make the same mistake twice!

Isn't that a little bit excessive? – Ritsuko asked.

Just wait, you will understand soon enough – Nadia said with a sinister smirk.

Shinji finished serving the "food", and Trax unpacked what he brought for himself and Nadia.

Let's eat – Misato said while stirring her ramen noodles on which she purred the curry – The trick is to put half the hot water into it that it says on the label.

Ritsuko tried the food and then thought – How can someone make something ready-to-eat taste so awful!?

Then she said – Next time you invite me for a meal; please on a day Shinji is cooking.

It would be better you find yourself another place to stay – Ritsuko said – be honest, living with Misato as a roommate must the unbearable.

I'm getting used to it – Shinji answered.

Well, there you have it Ritsuko, never underestimate a human's capability to adapt to his environment – Misato said.

Trax, you wouldn't have a third portion in this thermos can of yours? – Ritsuko asked.

No sorry. – Trax answered.

Anyhow talking about cooking; how did the last power converter test go, did you again cook all the fish in the lake – Ritsuko asked.

It's a quarry lake there were never any fish in it to begin with, and to answer your question; no this time the energy dump worked as planed – Trax answered.

Testing an energy source capable of putting out multiple gigawatts is not trivial; the energy needs to be used up somehow. A convenient way to do that is to put an isolated wire into a large water reservoir (a few km long in that particular case) and let electrical current flow through it. Water has a very high thermal capacity that is it takes a lot of energy to heat it up. During one of the earlier tests however there was a short and the whole energy was dumped by about only 8% of the installed wiring resulting in all the energy being dropped into a small section of the lake. That was sufficient to make the water boil locally.

We could push it to 75% of the maximal sustainable energy output, with the available cooling power we head – Trax said – with some improvements in the magnetic confinement it should be however possible to go to full power soon.

An EVA's peak power consumption is around 100MW what's the point of having a "battery pack" capable of providing two hundred times the required power constantly. – Ritsuko asked.

You never know when you may need it – Trax said – besides its fun! You don't often get a good excuse to play around with something with the energy output larger than the single biggest nuclear power plant on earth.

What's the progress of the actual "battery pack" that can be attached to an EVA – Misato asked.

It is being assembled right now; it should take only a few days until we can run a test. – Trax said.

Finally no more power cords – Shinji said with a little enthusiasm.

That's good – Ritsuko said – Unit 00 will be reactivated in two days so if all goes as planned we can test the new power source with it soon.

Ah that reminds me that Rei needs a new ID card, her old run out when she has been in the hospital and I forgot to give her the new one – Ritsuko said.

Ritsuko pulled an envelope from her bag and said – Could one of you bring her the new one on your way to NERV? – She asked.

Sure! – Nadia said and grabbed the envelope.

Thanks – Ritsuko said.

The dinner at Misatos place did not take the whole evening so Nadia decided to bring Rei her ID card right away. Rei lives in an otherwise abandoned apartment building on the perimeter of Neo Tokio-3. The doorbell was broken, Nadia tried using it but to no effect. She noticed that the door was unlocked, Nadia entered.

Rei! Are you there? – Nadia asked.

The living room was very sparkly furnished a bed, a chair, a small dresser, a large bookshelf, and a fridge used also as a nightstand with various pills on it, there was also an empty wall closet. Next to the fridge there was also a box apparently acting as rubbish bin with some old bandages and pair of broken glasses.

Rei came out of a bath and entered the room naked.

Nadia, why have you come here? – She asked surprised.

Ritsuko asked me to bring you your new ID card; the old one is no longer valid – Nadia answered and put the envelope with the ID card on the chair.

What an odd place to live – Nadia thought. She has noticed that there was no surveillance equipment any ware inside. The hallway was monitored with a hidden camera and there was a car parking upfront with two agents from the NERV security, but apparently they have not been surveying rei directly.

Rei, how long have you been living here? – She asked.

About 3 years – Rei answered.

Isn't that a bit uncomfortable? – Nadia asked.

I don't need more – Rei answered.

Ok… – Nadia said and looked around again. She noticed that the pills on the fridge ware sorted in one of this dosage boxes one use to organize medicine.

Are you fully recovered from the accident, are you really ready for the reactivation test? – Nadia asked.

Yes, why shouldn't I be? – Rei said.

I noticed that you are still on medication. – Nadia said.

That is normal Rei said, my body can't produce all the needed proteins on its own, I'm dependent on this additives. – Rei said.

Nadia approached Rei and laid her right hand on Reis chest, her eyes flashed with a bright blue glimmer.

I see… – Nadia said


	9. Rei I & Rei II (05,06)

For today NERV has scheduled the reactivation test of Unit 00. The last activation attempt on the 17th June 2115 failed horribly and the pilot of Unit 00, Rei Ayanami, was injured. As soon as the unit activated the EVA went out of control and trashed the test station. A test station is a large white room, somewhat resembling a padded room. The EVA unit is fixed to the wall; on the other end of the room is an armored glass window to a small control room from which the tests are run. Once the unit is activated the fixing bolts are released and it can move freely in the room to test the motor controls, etc.

Rei, how are you today? – Nadia asked

I'm fine. – Rei answered

Aren't you the least worried about the reactivation test? – Nadia Asked

Not at all, I know you will be watching over me. – Rei said.

That was an unexpected statement of confidence in her abilities since technically only a little in the test's outcome would depend on her recent work with the interface. So Nadia thought about how she could help Rei in case something would in fact go wrong again. How could she force an early shutdown or maybe get Rei physically out of the entry plug in a way that would not be to conspicuous.

I have to go now to the test station. – Rei said and went to the door.

Later in the control room.

Rei, do you hear me? – Commander Ikari asked.

Yes – Rei answered.

We begin now with the reactivation of unit 00, initiate contact phase 1 – Gendo said.

Power the systems – Dr. Akagi ordered.

Operational power level reached – Maya said.

Ok, begin second contact phase – Ritsuko said.

Initialize A10 connection – Hyuga said.

Activating synapsis, initializing neural link – Maya said.

Pulse and Harmonix normal – Another operator said.

How is the signal back flow? – Ritsuko asked.

It's below the detection threshold – Maya answered.

All links completed, neural connection established. – Maya said.

All central nervous system elements nominal. – Hyuga said.

Checking synapses – Maya said – Synchronization level rising need 2.5% more for activation, 2%, 1.5%, 1%, 0.5%, we are past the activation limit.

Unit 00 is now activated – Hyuga said.

Roger – Rei said – I'll proceed with the motoric tests.

Unlocking arm restraints. – Aoba said.

The Evangelion lifted his right arm and looked at it, than rotated it and proceeded to do the same with the left one.

How does it feel? – Nadia asked.

The arms feel numb – Rei said.

Ok, I'll dial the back flow suppression in the new input channel filters down a bit – Nadia said – how is it now?

Better, now it feels like always – Rei said.

Can you detect any signal inversion? – Ritsuko asked.

No, all looks good so far. – Maya answered.

Ok, Rei start walking – Ritsuko said.

Shoulder and leg restraints unlocked. – Aoba said.

The Evangelion took a step forward, than another. Then Rei proceeded to more advanced balance tests.

Commander Ikari approached closer to Ritsuko and asked in a low voice – So what do you think? – So that Nadia wouldn't hear their conversation.

Well, it's definitely impressive, though I don't think it would stop a unit from going berserk, it would though protect the pilot much better than our old system. – Ritsuko answered.

Do you think it's worth the risk granting her access to the low level functions of an EVA's central nervous system; would she be able to implement a control mechanism that would be capable of direct control? – Gendo asked

She probably could; but I think she wouldn't, definitely not for a unit that harbors a human soul. – Ritsuko answered. – For what we told them, the EVAs minds are completely void.

Rei finished the tests and parked Unti 00 again in the holding mounts.

Rei, the tests were successful, no issues with the reactivation – Ritsuko said

Let's deactivate the unit – Ritsuko ordered

All locks engaged – Aoba said.

Unit shutdown completed – Maya said – Moving unit 00 to cage 2.

Nadia left the control room and went to the EVA cages to see Rei and complement her successful test run in person.

That went really well, didn't it Rei – Nadia said.

Yes, of cause – Rei answered.

We should celebrate it somehow – Nadia said – How about going out to dinner in an expensive restaurant with the others?

If you wish – Rei answered. Her blind obedience made Nadia feel very uncomfortable.

Rei, what would you like to do – Nadia asked – I never went to a dinner in an expensive restaurant it may be nice.

Ok than we will do that – Nadia said and smiled.

In the evening, Misato, Shinji and Ritsuko joined Trax, Nadia and Rei for dinner. Misato was somewhat impressed with the place, it was a very expensive restaurant, probably one of the most expensive one in the whole of Neo Tokio-3 region. But she did not like that Trax and Nadia ware so wasteful with money, NERV salary's ware not adequate to the importance of their job. Also NERV itself was always cash strapped, despite them being man kinds only line of defense budget disputes ware all too often.

Say Trax you wouldn't have a few hundred millions to spend; for NERV to finely have the needed funds to modernize wing B – Misato asked. That was a very direct and not very polite question to say the least.

Well if man kinds survival is not worth to mankind enough why should we have to pay for it? – Trax asked telling her that they are legally in charge of the Taelon holding company was not a well thought move.

I don't understand why the government doesn't grant us the needed funds – Misato added.

Ah stop it already – Ritsuko said – the world needs more than just EVA's, people need also food and clean water that all costs money.

Yea but the Taelon holding company has shitloads of it so why not spend a few hundred millions in the right places – Misato asked.

Because in the end it would not help – Trax said – intangible assets, that includes fiat money, are like any good ponzi scheme, it's all worth a lot on paper until you try to cash it all out.

Look, the wealth of the world is currently estimated at 160e12€ while its BIP is only about half of that about 70e6€ – Trax explained – and a big part of that is actually already bound for necessary living expenses so only a fraction of that sum is really available.

Authors note: the values are taken as of 2014 I did not want to mess around with predicting inflation for the next 100 years past a near extinction event, feel free to do that for yourself. Ah and 1e12 = 1 000 000 000 000 etc…, for Europeans and all other normal peoples that's a billion, north Americas call it however a trillion.

If one activates a substantial portion of the words intangible assets the first thing that happens is that this particular assets will devalue very fast it will just distort the market without redirecting the worlds productivity to the intended amount – Trax continued the explanation – Even with real assets like gold when trying to sell a few tons you will first and foremost drop the price a lot. Or put it simpler if all rich people would try to spend all their billions at once they would notice that now all they money is at best worth 10-20% of what it was worth before.

The Taelons are also in possession of about half the world's gold (episode 3x19 "Apparition") that is 3e12€ or about 64 out of 171 tons (values as of 2011)

Rei was amused (to the limited extend she can be amused by something) by the pointless discussion about worthless metal and 0's in computers.

Well – Nadia said – at least our honored guest is having some entertainment.

Later in the evening, Nadia received a notification at her hand held, she looked at it. Her good mood was instantly gone.

An angel is heading to Neo Tokio-3 it's currently moving with Mach 1.2 across the north pacific it will arrive in japans Territorial waters at about 09:00 tomorrow morning! – Nadia said.

30 minutes later in central dogma, that is 21:47, Nadia put the satellite surveillance feed on the main screen.

It's even less humanoid than the previous one, it does not even appear biological – Misato said. It appears to be a gigantic, floating, crystalline octahedron. Its crystalline surface is blue and highly reflective.

It's an angel, it must be biological, it just has some kind of crystalline shell. – Nadia said.

Doesn't that thing remind you of something? – Nadia thought

Yes, it's shaped like your Blue Water – Trax thought as a reply.

How can it move so fast? – Aoba asked.

Trax looked on the remote console and said – Its leaving an intense ion trail behind, it probably ionizes the air that gets in contact with its surface and accelerates it backwards, using the resulting forward thrust for propulsion.

Can the UN drop a N2 mine on it like last time – Misato asked.

The UN does not have any supersonic missiles that would be large enough to carry a N2 device – Aoba said – Still they insisted at dispatching a destroyer fleet to try to stop it with conventional weapons.

That's waste of taxpayers' money – Misato said.

Economic interests, if they don't use up enough ammunition some higher ups job will be on the line – Ritsuko said.

The fleet will make contact approximately at 07:30 with the target – Aoba said.

Where did the angel came from so fast? – Fuyutsuki asked.

It emerged above the water surface vertical from the Peru–Chile Trench, when it was initially detected, and started heading straight to Neo Tokio-3. – Nadia said.

Prepare unit 01 for activation – Gendo said.

What about unit 00? – Fuyutsuki asked.

It needs more testing; we will use it only if absolutely necessary – Gendo answered.

Prepare all defenses and bring the city buildings into the geo front bunker – Fuyutsuki ordered – When everything is ready for battle go grab some sleep, we must be on our best tomorrow when the angel arrives.

07:47 the UN fleet is in position and awaiting the Angels arrival. NERV is observing the satellite feed, an audio com is setup to the flag ship of the fleet.

Target inbound it will be in range in 110 seconds – An officer said over the coms.

Target the object with all we have, open fire as soon as it is in range – the fleet captain ordered.

Shortly thereafter the ships lunched about a hundred SAM's on the target, these cruise missiles designed to take down fighter aircrafts travel at Mach 3 so they can easily pursue the target even if it would start evasive maneuvers.

Multiple direct hits on the target – another officer reported – enemy course unaffected.

What?! – the fleet captain asked

Fire the rail guns, full power! – he ordered.

The destroyers were equipped with modern rail guns capable of shooting 10kg projectiles with Mach 20 what corresponds to about 245 MJ of energy per shot. However all the projectiles have been deflected by the Angels AT-field.

The scanners detect a massive increase in the angel's power output, its risen by factor 10. – Nadia said.

Is it going to attack? – Misato asked.

In that instance the angel emitted a highly collimated energy beam, cutting two destroyers in half, than he proceeded to other targets.

It's an abomination, the light of Babel – Nadia thought

It sure looks like it – Trax replied – But how could a biological creature manage to emulate this technology.

It head 12 thousand years to evolve to this point – Nadia thought.

Still given our observations on its power output it couldn't synthesize a lot of artificial Orichalcum, in the time available. – Trax thought.

Yea, it's only covered with a thin shell – Nadia thought – but still it's a beast designed to kill angels.

Or EVAs for that matter – Trax thought – I wonder if its initial goal was to kill Lilith.

That's possible, given the path it evolved, but now it head to change its objectives – Nadia thought.

This energy beam of the creature, from what I can tell even an EVA's AT-field won't be able to withstand it for long – Nadia said.

The fleet is being decimated! – Aoba said.

Idiots, we told them that conventional weapons can't do anything against an angel – Gendo said.

Well, we may have problems with that one ourselves, commander! – Ritsuko said – If these measurements are correct, that energy beam indeed caries enough punch to severely damage an EVA.

And that beast will arrive here in less than two hours! – Misato added.

At 9:25 the angel arrived in Neo Tokio-3, it took position directly above the NERV HQ and started drilling with some sort of proboscis (tube-like mouthpart; see Mosquito) into the Geo-front. Other assaults with conventional weaponry remained ineffective. NERV used that occasion to map the angel's response range, a.k.a. how close an enemy has to approach to be attacked with the energy beam.

At 9:55 NERV personal under the command of captain Katsuragi is reviewing their options of defense against the creature.

The Angel is directly above us – Hyuga said – It's drilling into the geo front with some sort of drill.

I want a report and a tactical assessment of our situation – Misato said.

The angel is attacking everything that approaches it below a certain distance – An operator said. – The drill has already penetrated the first armor layer. At the current rate it will break through to the Geo front in about 14 hours.

So no chance of a hand to hand combat – Misato said – what's the status of its AT-Field?

It is permanently active, and very strong – Maya said.

What's its objective what good is a small 17 meter wide whole to the geo front for this thing anyways? – Misato asked – It's not like it could fit through it.

Keep in mind that it's a living creature its crystalline appearance is only a thin shell – Nadia said – best case is that it will pour its insides into the geo front, leaving its hard shell behind and assume a new shape, possibly losing some of its current deadliness.

And what's the worst case? – Misato asked

It will morph its shape and invade the geo front in its current form – Nadia said.

So waiting for it to enter and fighting it inside is a gamble – Misato said.

How do we kill this thing, if we can't get near it? – Ritsuko asked.

The UN has suggested throwing a 10 Megaton N2 mine onto the Angel using a high altitude bomber – Aoba said – Such an explosion would however leave a 10 km large crater fully obliterating Neo Tokio-3 and the entire Geo-front.

Should we capitulate and evacuate? - Hyuga asked.

That would be no good, without NERV there would be no one to stop the next angel. – Misato said.

Before we do that, I would like to try one thing – Misato said – you remember that dossiers we got about that new positron gun the military is developing?

You can't be serious this thing was built to be powered by a fusion reactor – Ritsuko said – and they still did not manage to get it running producing an energy surplus, the gun was only tested using grid electricity at about 1% of its nominal power.

Well luckily we have a supplier of working fusion reactors – Misato said and looked to Trax.

Right, the gun was designed to operate with a primitive implementation of an electro-plasma system (EPS) so it can be powered directly from a fusion reactor – Trax said.

The gun was designed to operate at 1 Terra Joule of energy at most but to break the AT-Field of the angel we have estimated at least 2 TJ would be required – Ritsuko said.

That shouldn't be a problem the main limiting factor in the current implementation is the waste heat when storing the energy for a shot, charging the system over tens of minutes to hours results in. – Trax said – With 10 Taelon fusion reactors operating at its peak power, we can push 250GW into that thing, with this much power it would be charged to 2.5 TJ in just 10 seconds. We should be able to safely get more than one shot out of this thing before it breaks.

Are you sure you can implement an energy converter in that time available? – Ritsuko asked.

The beauty of this solution is that this gun is already mostly compatible, only some customized EPS relays are required that can be manufactured on the mothership in a few hours. – Trax answered.

Misato presented the plan to the commander.

Is that really our only option – Gendo asked.

Yes, that is unless you want to wait and see what the angel is capable of once it enters the geo front – Misato replied.

What about the positron gun can't we power it of the grid? – Fuyutsuki asked.

Well, we would need the entire power output of Japan to charge it in a manageable time frame. – Misato said – It would be doable, but I strongly advise against it.

As it stands now we would be completely relaying on the cooperation of those aliens – Fuyutsuki said.

I see no reason to reject your plan. You may proceed, Captain. – Gendo said.

Yes sir! – Misato said and left Gendos office.

Do you think it is wise to risk mankind's survival on them keeping up their end of the bargain? – Fuyutsuki asked.

If they would want to betray us they could just as easily cut a few power lines from orbit the effect would be the same a huge gun with no power to shoot it, and no more time for a plan B or a retaliation strike of some sort. – Gendo said – We, apparently, don't have any other options.

18:00 the Angel will reach the geo front in about 6 hours.

Status report? – Misato asked.

The angel has penetrated the 18th armored plate – Aoba said – just 12 more to go.

What is the progress on the positron rifle? – Misato asked

We are almost done assembling the device. – Vladimir said – We have already successfully tested the new EPS relays.

When will be ready to go? – Misato asked.

We should be ready as planned to start the operation at 20:00 – Vladimir said.

And the EVA's – Misato asked.

Ready to go – Ritsuko said.

20:00 the operation is starting Unit 01 has been equipped with the gun while Unit 00 will act as backup it also got the heat shield of an old space craft that should withstand the angels energy beam for some 10 seconds. The units got in position behind a hill.

Ok, you know the drill we have simulated it enough times. Get on the top of the hill and aim the gun at the enemy, the automatic targeting system should take the care of the rest, as soon as the system reports target locked we will charge the gun, when it says ready to fire, pull the trigger. – Misato instructed Shinji once again. – And remember when the gun is charged you need to shoot within 10 seconds or it will burn out, it wasn't made to store that much energy for long.

Shinji got in position, system reported target locked.

Ok, let's go! – Misato said.

Engaging EPS relays 1 through 10 – Trax said – Energy flow stable, charging 10%, 20% ...

Energy increase in the target – Nadia said – I think it noticed us and wants to attack.

Shinji! Take cover – Misato screamed.

Unit 01 has hidden behind the hill. The angel's blast took out the entire hill.

Shinji are you ok!? – Misato asked.

Pilot appears alive – Maya said.

Shinji do can you hear me!? – Misato asked again.

Yes, yes I can hear you, what now? – Shinji asked.

Charging complete in 5 seconds you must target the angel and fire within the next 15 seconds, or just shoot it "some ware" and retreat. – Trax said.

I can do that! – Shinji said and got out from behind the scorched hill.

What's that! The targeting system reports an error, what now – Shinji asked.

You must target manually – Misato said – use the visual backup system.

The angel is preparing for a second strike – Nadia said.

Plasma containment failure in 8 seconds. – Trax said.

Get out of there Shinji! – Misato screamed – that's an order!

No! I can do that – Shinji replied while trying to target the angel.

Containment failure in 5 seconds. – Trax said – you must shoot now or the gun will blow up!

The angel fired, rei blocked the beam with the shield aided by units 00 AT-Field.

Shinji, retreat I said! – Misato screamed even louder as if the coms could actually be that loud.

3 seconds till containment failure – Trax said – if you don't fire now I will trigger the gun remotely no matter where it's pointing at!

I 'almost have it – Shinji said – Just wait please!

Plasma containment critical, Now or never – Trax said.

Shinji fired; the positron beam struck the angel and pierced it through and through. The angel started losing altitude, its proboscis broke. When it hit the ground its shell cracked and red viscous fluid started leaking out of it.

What's the status of the enemy is it dead? – Misato asked.

All energy emission ceased – Nadia said.

What's the status of unit 00 and its pilot? – Nadia asked.

The shield held but the unit is heavily burned – Maya answered – The pilot appears to be alive as the AT-Field generation is still up but coms and telemetry are out.

Can we safely eject the entry plug? – Misato asked

The unit is not in a stable position, if we do that the skeletal structure will be damaged again, once the effects of the AT field subside – Ritsuko said.

Eject it anyways – Misato ordered.

Hold that – Ritsuko said – if we deactivate the unit we may not be able to reactivate it in time to prevent substantial damages.

Shinji do you hear me – Ritsuko said – you must bring unit 00 to the nearest elevator and fix it there so we can bring it in to the cage.

Understood - Shinji said.

10 minutes later Shinji managed to drag unit 00 to the nearest entrance.

Placing unit 00 on the elevator platform – Shinji said.

What's the status of the coms? – Misato asked.

Still down! – Maya answered.

Ok, I think it's strapped in. – Shinji said and took a step back from the elevator

Unit 00 to cage 3 – Misato ordered.

Shinji, we're sending up a new platform we will bring you in to cage 2 – Misato said.

Take care of that – Misato said to Ritsuko and left towards the cages, Nadia followed her.

In units 00 cage, due to the exterior damage the unit can't be properly fixed to the support structure, so the cage needs to be filled with fluid to support the EVA's body mass.

When can we eject the entry plug? – Misato asked.

We need 3 more minutes to fill the cage – a technician said.

Don't worry she's ok I feel it. – Nadia said.

You can't know that. – Misato said. – Hurry up!

Cage 3 filling completed – a voice said through some loud speakers.

Eject the entry plug right now – Misato ordered.

The plug was ejected, and opened, Rei exited the entry plug.

How are you? – Misato asked.

I'm fine – Rei said as if nothing happened.

How can you be fine you could have dyed out there? – Misato asked unsettled by Reis lack of concern for her own wellbeing.

I was being watched over – Rei said and looked to Nadia.

I think that commands a second nice dinner – Nadia said and smiled.

Rei smiled back.


	10. Asuka Flyes

A few days after the crystalline angel attacked the geo front. Trax finished with the help of his "minions" (as he was calling the technicians NERV provided to assist him) the assembly of the portable energy unit. With these it should be possible to operate an EVA indefinitely without the need for an external energy supply. Howe ever the scheduled tests with unit 00 head to be postponed by quite some time, due to the significant exterior damages the unit sustained during the battle.

You should bring Unit 02 in from Germany as soon as possible. – Trax said – Unit 00 was just repaired and now it got damaged so we again are down to only one EVA.

Well that may be a problem; we planned to ship it in but since the UN fleet got their butts kicked by that angel this plan is no longer viable for quite some time. – Misato said. She was aware that at this rate it's just a matter of time when booth EVA's may be out of commission while the next angel comes.

Why don't you fly it in? – Trax asked – You have sufficiently large air planes to transport an Evangelion.

That's not a viable option, what if an angel attacks it while in transit, with the backup battery it would not have enough power to defend itself. – Misato said.

Well, than good that I'm finished with the portable energy unit, we can use it. – Trax said.

It's completely untested! – Misato said.

No not completely, it just has not been tested with an EVA, with dummy loads it runs fine – Trax said.

That's not a combat situation with vibrations and shocks – Misato said – it must be reliable also under this conditions.

The inertial dampeners should take care of that, but how about we fly it to Germany and test it there with unit 02, if it works ok we can then use it while transporting unit 02. –Trax said.

Hmm… I will suggest it to the commander – Misato said.

Later that day in the commander's office, Misato just presented Trax's proposal to the commander and left.

So what do you think – Fuyutsuki said.

We can't move the specimen without an escort and the captain is right the UN will not transport unit 02 now. – Gendo said.

Amazingly how fast the military changed their position from "we don't want to play driver for an oversized child's toy, we have better things to do" to "this mission is too dangerous, we won't risk our man" – Fuyutsuki said.

And again we are reliant on those two in matters we should maintain sovereignty. – Gendo said.

We could transport unit two and the specimen by train – Fuyutsuki suggested.

That would take too long – Gendo said – I don't like it eider but by plain it's the best option right now.

This two appear quite manageable – Gendo said – much more than I feared at the beginning.

I just hope that your hubris will not be the undoing of what we worked to achieve all these years – Fuyutsuki said – their compliance may only be an act, and they may know much more than they say.

In the evening Misato is again serving dinner at her place, this time Shinji cooked. Ritsuko, Trax and Nadia are invited again, also she invited Rei.

Good news everyone – Misato said – we will be bringing unit 02 in from Germany next week.

Does that mean the commander agreed to test the new energy unit directly in Germany? – Trax asked.

Yup! You can start packing tomorrow. – Misato said.

Great! – Trax said.

Have you already been to Germany in the past – Shinji asked.

Yes very often in fact – Trax said.

Do you like traveling – Shinji asked.

Traveling like getting from one home to another, yes, but staying at foreign places not so much. – Trax said.

I see? – Shinji said.

Why is that? – Misato asked – Visiting foreign places is exciting!

I generally don't like to be without a well-equipped lab at my disposal. – Trax said.

Nadia, what about you? – Misato asked.

I like traveling as well as staying at strange places! – Nadia said.

I'm glad I have seen the world before the second impact; the environmental damages that occurred were really severe, so many amazing places have been destroyed. – Nadia added.

Well nature is very resilient, in a few hundred years it all will be back to normal, more or less. – Trax said

Two days later on an airfield near to Neo Tokio-3, NERV is putting the external energy supply unit onto a military air plane.

Trax, are you sure you don't want to take a regular flight yourself – Misato asked.

Nah, too many people and it's not an adventure – Trax said.

Fine but don't complain afterwards the flight is 10 hours, and its military class – Misato said.

Trax boarded the plane; it took of a short while later.

The plane arrived in Hamburg at 10:00 local time. On the airfield some armored convoy was already waiting to escort the new equipment to the HQ. About a half an hour drive later Trax arrived at NERV's third branch. It looked very different from the Japan headquarter it was located near to the local university and from the outside did not look very conspicuous, just like a regular large governmental building. The only thing hinting from the outside that this was a paramilitary installation was the test area located next to it where apparently they let an EVA loose a few times in the past months. Once the convoy arrived at a large gate leading to the sub levels, the magnitude of the installation became apparent, similar to NERV-1 in japan most of the infrastructure has been installed underground. They did not head a geo front but still more than enough space for their needs.

The convoy stopped in an underground parking structure where a few man have already been waiting for them. The local head of NERV General James Henderson was awaiting the new arrival together with two security officers.

Welcome to Germany – General Henderson said – How was your flight? I hope not to tiresome.

Guten Morgen General – Trax answered in perfect German – It was quite entertaining, I enjoyed it.

So I see you know our language – General Henderson asked.

Yes of cause – Trax said, and asked – Am I right to presume that you are the head of this branch?

Yes, I'm General James Henderson – the general answered. – If you would follow me I'll show you around.

In the meantime NERV Central's security personnel that Gendo send, to keep an eye on the new hardware proceeded with the locals to transport the power supply unit to the EVA cages. Some additional technicians including Vladimir from NERV Central will arrive in a few hours, they took a commercial flight.

So how do you like the complex? – The general asked

Its impressive, though the architecture reminds me a little bit much of the good old GDR. – Trax said.

Ah, yes, yes all of that was built very hasty it's all very functional indeed, but say aren't you a bit too young to remember old GDR architecture – the general asked.

Ah well I remember a lot of things you know – Trax answered – You can always learn a lot from the past, humans as a collective are awfully predictive in their nature.

I suppose that's true – the general said.

Shortly thereafter at 12:15 they arrived in Units 02 cage where Asuka was already waiting. She was not very happy that her unit 02 would be used to test the new experimental external power supply unit. Gendo has not disclosed NERV central's cooperation with the Taelons, so all that was tolled to branch 3 it's experimental, don't open it, don't look inside.

WTF, General!? Why has my EVA to act as a guinea pig, for that experimental contraption? They have two units in japan! – Asuka said angry.

We've been over this, the head quarter was attacked multiple times they need unit 01 in case another angel appears and unit 00 is being repaired. – The general said – Besides, it's an order!

So you rather risk blowing up mine? And who's that? – Asuka said looking towards Trax.

Hi, I'm Trax I'm the one that build that experimental contraption and you don't have to worry the things I build don't blow up, usually. – Trax said smiling.

Usually?! WTF! – Asuka said a bit shocked.

Well sometimes a big bang is just what you intended for. – Trax said with a sinister smirk.

Since when does NERV employ underage pyromaniacs as lead developers?! – Asuka asked provocatively.

It isn't so different from employing child soldiers with masters in electrophysiology. – Trax said, before he came to Germany, he of cause got a briefing about the onsite personal's background.

Asuka looked perplex for a second or two, no one called her a "child soldier" before.

Look, NERV is man kinds only line of defense, obviously they will recruit only the best and the brightest, so meeting another _Wunderkind_ was statistically unavoidable. – Trax said smiling.

Great another one of this kind, – the general thought – Where is NERV finding these kids?

Ok, so what is this machine exactly, it can't be a battery so what? – Asuka asked – Is it an N2 reactor! These damn things are basically a giant bomb, even a minor containment failure and all goes to hell. You are not strapping a bomb to my EVA, NO NO NO!

A N2 reactor is a Neutron AntiNeutron annihilation device, as of the current state of the art it's the only technology that can provide enough energy to power an Evangelion in such a small form factor. It is useless as a sustainable energy source as mankind have not found yet a way to generate antimatter in a way that would yield, in total, an energy surplus, so a vessel has to carry all the AntiNeutrons needed for its time of operation at once. However as matter anti Mather reactions have the highest specific energy known to man, such reactors have been used for deep space missions (asteroid mining) back in the days there have been however a few catastrophes hence this technology is considered very dangerous.

No don't worry it's not such type of device – Trax said.

So what is it then? – Asuka asked

That's confidential – Trax answered.

I won't risk my EVA if you don't tell me what it is! – Asuka argued.

That's insubordination, Miss Langley! – The general said.

As if I would care, I'm legally not one of your soldiers! – Asuka responded with a vicious tone of voice.

Fine, I'll tell you – Trax said – it's a nuclear fusion reactor so it's perfectly safe to operate, it can be fully shut down at any moment.

What?! – Asuka said a little bit astonished – How did you manage to get one of this to work?

Since The Taelon era no one managed to build one that could sustain itself for more than a few minutes, keeping the confinement fields stable enough for continues operation was a challenging task earth's scientists did not manage to accomplish.

Well I did, but the details are really only need to know – Trax said.

Asuka was actually quite impressed, apparently that pyromaniac managed to do something that even the best German scientists at the Wendelstein-14X experiment, Europe's biggest attempt at sustainable nuclear fusion failed at.

You and what army of geniuses – Asuka asked provocatively.

Well Me, Myself and I – Trax replied with an equally provocative tone of voice.

I hate to interrupt, but I have to go oversee the commissioning of this fusion reactor, the test is scheduled for tomorrow morning 08:00 hours – the general said – take the rest of the day of.

Hmm… sooo… I see you have read my personnel file – Asuka said.

Yep, I had to know to whom I'm entrusting this sophisticated piece of machinery. – Trax said – And may I add it's quite impressive, getting a masters at an age of 13 from Heidelberg is not bat really.

Yea… but how comes that I don't know anything about you? – Asuka asked – It's my life that's on the line when you screw up something.

Well, apparently I have a higher security clearance. – Trax said and smirked.

Not good enough! I need to know more about you if I really have to entrust the wellbeing of my EVA to that contraption of yours. – Asuka said.

Well what you would like to know? – Trax asked.

Where did you study? – Asuka asked.

I have a PhD from the University of Vienna, faculty of physics. – Trax said

Say how we continue that over lunch – Trax said – it's my treat.

Yea, right the Cafeteria is free here – Asuka said.

Nah, I need a good schnitzel, it's the closest to Vienna I've been in months and the Japanese just don't know how to make a schnitzel, not even talking about a good one. – Trax said.

Ok, I know a good place! – Asuka said.

The next day 23.07.2115 in the morning, the power supply unit test is being prepared. Unit-02 is placed in its cage; a large crane is bringing the EPU (External Power supply Unit) in position for connection.

We are ready! – The crane operator said over the coms.

What's the status of unit 02? – Dr. Schmitz asked, he is the head of R&D NERV's German branch.

Ready for activation – A operator answered.

Ok, Asuka, are you ready? – Dr. Schmitz asked.

Yes, as always! – Asuka answered.

Very well, and the status of the EPU? – Dr. Schmitz asked. The Germans are always very thorough with their check lists.

Ready for activation – Trax said.

Then let's begin. Establish the connection! – Dr. Schmitz ordered and the crane operator complied.

EPU attached! – The crane operator reported.

Activating power source – Trax said.

Lepton pump nominal, cooling system is working within operational parameters – Vladimir said.

Voltage regulation operates within the specified limits – Trax said – You can proceed to start the EVA.

A EPS driven lepton pump behaves basically like a constant current power supply, while most electrical loads including an EVA are designed to operate with a constant voltage. For that a sophisticated regulation circuit had to be implemented.

EVA Unit 02 Activate – Dr. Schmitz ordered.

Establishing neural link – Another operator said – Unit 02 activated.

What's the status of the power source? – Dr. Schmitz asked.

Unit 02 is currently drawing its nominal idle power about 100kW, the voltage is stable and the ripples well in tolerance. – Dr. Elser said, he's the head of the Electrical engineering department.

May I suggest we proceed to testing the unit in the field – Trax suggested.

No, No! We have a long checklist to go through first – Dr. Schmitz said.

Only 2 hours of boring routine tests later.

That went really well – Dr. Schmitz said – now we can proceed with the auxiliary checklist.

Are you serious!? – Trax said – All this tests have already been run back at NERV Central, we are here only to test how the unit behaves in the field!

That may be so but unit 02 is an expensive piece of machinery and we have our guidelines – Dr. Schmitz said.

An hour later, the tests and the auxiliary tests have all been completed successfully.

Move unit 02 to the testing ground – Dr. Schmitz ordered.

Good, Asuka, start walking, than make a run around the perimeter. – Dr. Schmitz said through the coms.

Power draw at 1MW, it peeked at 50MW, the power supply voltage was stable between 98KV and 103KV – Dr. Elser reported.

That's well within the specified parameters – Dr. Schmitz said – What's the status of the power supply unit, any issues?

No, all runs just fine, the energy conversion rate is very good and the cooling system is still operating at low power. – Vladimir answered.

Asuka, proceed to with motoric exercises 1 through 10 – Dr. Schmitz said through the coms.

About half an hour later at about 11:30

All looks good, the ripple is very low and the voltage remains well with in specifications. – Dr. Elser reported.

That's good, ok Asuka, deploy an AT-Field – Dr. Schmitz Ordered.

The power draw is now at 250MW – Dr. Elser – the ripple increased to about 2 0/00 still well within specs.

When can we start testing the durability of this thing – Asuka asked over the coms? The whole day was very boring till now!

Just a few more routine tests – Dr. Schmitz answered.

This few tests lasted till the scheduled lunch break at 12:30, Asuka is sitting with the technicians from NERV Central at a table in the cafeteria.

Stupid Schmitz! – Asuka said – Since he is in charge all got so boring, I miss Dr. Montalcini she was always fun.

Well look on the bright side after the lunch you can finally jump with your EVA through some hoops without a cable – Trax said.

Say, Asuka aren't you in the least curious about the other pilots in NERV Central? – Trax asked – You haven't inquired anything about them.

Why should I? I'm the best pilot there is! – Asuka replied – I'll have to deal with them not getting in my way soon enough.

Hehe… Trax I didn't thought I would run across someone with your level of self-confidence ever again but well… I was just proven wrong. – Vladimir said.

Later the day the durability tests have been successfully finished. No matter what Asuka did with the EVA the EPU remained functional and no other issues appeared.

Dr., what's your assessment on this power supply unit – General Henderson asked – Can we entrust it to work reliably in a real combat situation?

It appears that it withstood all the standard tests, but to be sure we would need to do some more detailed impact tests and damage threshold studies. – Dr. Schmitz answered. – NERV Central however insisted that the unit will be only handled within the specified operational parameters, they don't want it broken.

Commander Ikari is satisfied with the tests outcome; a relocation order for unit 02 has already been issued. – A Liaison officer from NERV central said; his name was Ryoji Kaji.

That is all much too hasty – General Henderson objected – Besides moving unit 02 would leave Europe defenseless.

Once the specimen is out or Europe, an attack is highly unlikely. – Dr. Schmitz said.

We have only the committee's word for it. – The General said.

It's an order sanctioned by the committee, it's not up for debate. – Kaji said.

During the next day the UN was making the preparations for unit 02's flight to japan. In the evening before the departure Asuka is watching unit 02 being prepared for transport to the airport.

Say, Asuka, it's your last day in Germany for quite some time – Trax said – is this really the best place to be, shouldn't you be some ware out saying good bye to your friends?

I don't really have any – Asuka said – most people are just so boring or stupid, often both.

I see, isn't that attitude a bit depressing? – Trax asked – Isn't having fun supposed to be about doing stupid things, so it should be just enough to find some people that are not boring.

Things like what? – Asuka asked.

Well, stuff that is fun and has no imminent purpose in improving the human condition. – Trax said – For example Building working contraptions from random scrap.

Or may be: a competition in making the biggest explosion using only over the counter chemicals. – Trax added – Or how about "Making art with thermite"!

Isn't that just wasting your time? – Asuka asked – I mean that's just application of already established knowledge to irrelevant problems.

So what? Making things that comes to one natural and results in a satisfying "fump" is fun. – Trax said – Not everything one does must be about advancing mankind.

Having fun in your life has an intrinsic value in itself. – Trax said – Or maybe I should say it like this: no matter what you do as long as it leads to endorphin production in your brain it will make you feel good.

But it will still be pointless! – Asuka said.

Well that strongly depends on what's the point, doesn't it! – Trax said.

Asuka glanced for some moments meditatively into the ceiling of the EVA cages.

Hmm… So what would you suggest we could do to stimulate the endorphin production? – Asuka asked.

As it happens the "Frickel-Kommando Nordwest" has its weekly meeting on Wednesdays, and it's only about an hour drive away from here. – Trax said.

And what is that supposed to be? – Asuka asked.

A bunch of random Germans building and demonstrating contraptions, and there usually is a really satisfying percentage of explosions. – Trax said – There may be no benevolent purpose to it but it's very entertaining. I read on their message board that one is bringing his fire breathing drone.

Well I suppose this might be entertaining. – Asuka said.

25.07.2115 departure at 08:00 GTM + 1, expected flight time 10 hours. Unit 02 is being strapped in for transport using a very large aircraft. It has been equipped with a rudimentary jetpack intended to allow dropping the unit in flight in case an angel attacks such that it can engage it in a fight from ground.

Is it really necessary that I spend all the flight in the entry plug. – Asuka asked.

Yes, if an angel attacks suddenly there will be no time for you to get to unit 02. – Kaji said.

I have a quite extensive collection of old TV shows, I'm sure we can find something to make the trip not too boring – Trax said.

Pfff… old TV shows. – Asuka said – how about something new.

Nope sorry, I'd argue that everything made in the second half of 21 century is not worth watching. – Trax said – Just try some, I'm sure you will like something.

The flight took off as scheduled; the transport was luckily completed without any incidents. 26.07.2115 at 02:00 GTM + 9 at the airport in japan, Asuka exited the entry plug and stretched a bit.

Ufff… That was tiring… – She said and got down to the ground where Misato was already waiting for the new arrival.

Hi Misato great to see you again! – Asuka said – How are you?

Fine how about you, how was your flight? – Misato asked.

I'm fine; the flight was boring though, good that Trax had something watch during the flight. – Asuka replied.

Yea well, I can imagine that, but it was necessary, we couldn't risk an angel attack. – Misato said.

Trax and Nadia approached Unit-02

I like the color – Nadia said looking on the EVA, than she looked to Asuka – You must be the pilot.

And you are? – Asuka asked.

Nadia approached a few steps closer – I'm Nadia, I like Trax work with NERV.

You are working on the neural interfaces, right? – Asuka asked a bit intrigued.

Yes, that's right. – Nadia said.

I got to review your impressive work on unit 00 some weeks ago. I thought you would be older though. – Asuka said.

Asuka normally isn't that nice to people especially to once seemingly her age, however meeting someone with so impressive skills merited a more polite approach.

Oh well, let's just say that age is relative. – Nadia said and smiled.

Before Trax left for Germany, commander Ikari ordered the NERV staff to keep the extent of Traxs and Nadias connection to the Taelons confidential.

I know for you it's only about 18:00 but here its already 02:00, so I would suggest I drive you to your housing. – Misato said.

Ok, yea that sounds reasonable. – Asuka said – But say where is Kaji he sure also needs a ride.

Whaaaat?! Kaji is here?! – Misato asked.

Misato knows Kaji from her time at the university, he was her boyfriend.

Yes, but I'm afraid he already left; he had some urgent delivery for the commander. – Trax said. – But he said that he will be working now here so I'm sure you will have time to catch up.

Misato has driven all three to the building complex she was living in; she got a flat for Asuka on the same flor as hers.

We are here, that's your apartment. – Misato said – Mine is just around the corner.

Hmm… a bit small isn't it – Asuka asked – I'm going to barely fit all my stuff in there.

Why do you Europeans always need so much living space? – Misato asked.

You can do the same we did, get more units side by side and break down some walls. – Trax said.

Nah that won't be necessary I guess, let's see… – Asuka said, while inspecting her new place to live.

Wait, does that mean you are also located in this building? – Asuka asked.

Yes, it seems Misato likes to keep her operatives close. – Trax said.

Well, see you tomorrow. – Misato said yawning and left.

According to my inner clock its dinner time. – Asuka said – Is there any chance some restaurant nearby will be still open so late?

I don't think so, – Nadia said – but you are welcome to grab some dinner at our place.

Sure, thanks. – Asuka said.

The three arrived at Traxs and Nadias apartment, Asuka entered.

Wow, that's nice – Asuka said while looking around – you joined two levels together. You don't see so much space in modern consumer architecture usually.

We really like old architecture from the last millennium, back than people had a sense for beauty and comfort. – Nadia said.

The remodeled apartment has a ground area of 12x24m, the main living room spans over two levels. It is arranged such that at the second level one has a small perimeter to walk around on two sides that extend into the ground Area of the living room, while on two other sides it runs along a two corridors. The lower level contains on one side the main entrance, a long corridor that runs along the main living room and is connected to the upper level by stairs. It also contains a smaller 1 level multipurpose room from which on can reach the bath and the kitchen/dining room as well as the main living room. The kitchen has windows to the veranda it also runs aside the main living room and is connected to a storage room. On the other side of the main living room there are two labs on two levels and in the very corner another two level room containing a small well shielded Taelon structure with a portal as well as some com and lab equipment. The second level harbors the master bedroom and some auxiliary rooms as well as a second bath.

How much did all that remodeling cost? I can't imagine NERV paying for it all. Where did you get the money for that? – Asuka asked.

A lot. Let's just say its family money. – Nadia said.

Asuka, what do you want to eat? – Trax asked. – Something quick like sandwiches or scrambled eggs, or may be something proper like some sort of Spaghetti?

Spaghetti sounds good. – Asuka said and sat down to the table.

Say Nadia, when I was reviewing your drafts on the new input channel filters, there was a note that the signal noise on the axons was down to 10 mw, how did you manage that? – Asuka asked.

Nadia set down as well and proceeded to explain the needed modifications.

In the meantime Kaji arrived in the HQ and gave a large metal briefcase to the commander.

Luckily the transport went without any incidents. – Kaji said.

Yes, we have been very lucky that no Angel appeared. – Gendo said.

After the UN chicken out from transporting unit 02 and the specimen, I did not know what to expect. – Kaji said. – I would have never guessed that you will pull a mobile energy unit out of your sleeve.

It's only provisional. – Gendo said – Research into S2 technology still has a high priority.

Provisional may be but it's never the less impressive. – Kaji said.

Gendo opened the brief case; inside it was a cooling unit. It contained an 8 cm large, frozen, humanoid embryo. It was labeled as Sample A-01 ADAM.

Well it's already restored this far, now it's frozen but it's still alive. It's quite amazing actually. – Kaji said

Let me guess, this is the key stone of the human instrumentality project right? – Kaji asked.

Correct, this is Adam. – Gendo said.


	11. Asuka Strikes (08)

The next angel appeared, NERV is tracking its movements however the signal is weak and it often disappears from the scanners.

It seems to have a rather low energy output when it dives below a few hundred meters I can't track it – Nadia said –Water is unfortunately really good at absorbing energy.

The MAGI system cannot spot any discernable pattern in the Angels movements, so we can't predict where it will appear next. – Ritsuko said.

Hmpf… apparently we have to wait until it decides to attack us. – Misato said.

Later at a table in the NERV cafeteria, Trax and Nadia are eating lunch; Asuka joined them.

How did you get so high res images, of the angel? –Asuka asked. – For what I can tell only the best US spy satellites can provide such resolutions, but none was in the region this images were made.

We used our private satellites. – Nadia said.

What?! Are you serious? You have your own satellites? – Asuka asked.

Yep – Nadia said – as I said family money.

Yea, right, an expensive apartment is one thing, but an own fleet of satellites that requires a totally different kind of money. – Asuka said. – How is it possible that you have access to such assets?

Well a lot of people disappeared in the second impact, as it happens we both got significant shares in a large holding company. – Trax said.

And? – Asuka asked.

We joined together; our booth shares combined give us the majority vote, so we can do whatever we want. – Trax said.

And what company is that? – Asuka asked.

Well, that's confidential. – Trax said.

Ah come on, I won't tell anyone, you can tell me. – Asuka said – If you don't I will find it out anyway sooner or later!

Misato approached with a notebook and some satellite images open she was just reviewing.

Hey what are you talking about? – Misato asked.

They were just telling me about their company. – Asuka said.

Your involvement with the Taelons was supposed to be confidential. – Misato said.

Taelons? – Asuka asked – Your company is the Taelon holding?

It was confidential. – Trax said.

Ups, sorry about that. – Misato said and set down to the table.

Anyhow, Nadia, I looked through the satellite images you send me and I think you are right; the angel is not just jumping out of the water, it indeed looks as if could travel some distance in gliding flight. – Misato said.

It did not have this capability yesterday. – Nadia said – Apparently it's adapting itself, probably it can't go on land in its current form.

How is that possible? – Asuka asked.

From what we can tell the angels are capable of live evolution that is they can adapt their bodies to the environment. – Trax said – Unlike every other animal on earth which has to create randomly modified variations of itself and then relay on natural selection.

So what, it is trying to learn how to fly in order to attack as from above? – Misato asked.

That would be a reasonable conclusion, yes. – Trax said.

Well, then it's good that the commander agreed to commission the assembly of a secondary EPU. – Misato said.

Two days later in the NERV HQ.

The angel seams now to be capable of sustained flight, its body changed also quite discernibly over the past days. – Ritsuko said.

We should consider a preemptive strike. – Misato said. – Currently it spends so much time in air that we can track its movement's well enough.

That may be so, but scorching the planet with N2 mines should be avoided, close combat using an EVA is much more efficient, we will wait for it to attack. – Commander Ikari said.

But commander isn't that putting the pilots into unnecessary risk? – Misato asked.

It is their job to fight angels; it's not up for debate. – Ikari said.

Later the day in Misatos apartment, as so often she invited the pilots as well as Trax and Nadia for dinner.

Say Misato, since this stupid Angel is not coming to us, how about we just go and get it, with the external power supply we can fight it any ware on the planet – Asuka said.

What if another angel attacks while the EVA's are deployed some ware in the Indian Ocean? – Misato said – We can't take this risk.

No need sending this two they would only be in my way. – Asuka said.

I would also prefer to take care of it rather sooner than later, but the angels can be very dangerous. Hence a cautious course of action is necessary. – Misato said.

Well you could still just use a N2 mine. – Trax said

Nope, the commander is against it. – Misato said.

Look on the bright side, the longer we can observe it the more we can learn about its evolutionary capabilities. – Nadia said.

What if it's not just waiting to evolve but for a second one to team up with? – Shinji asked.

Than we will take care of both of them! – Asuka said.

How can you be so sure, the last one we fought was almost indestructible. – Shinji said.

I'll bet you I can easily kill two of those things! – Asuka said.

Optimism aside, we now have three EVA's so even if two would to attack we would have a reasonable chance of success. – Trax said.

Well unit 00 is still being repaired. – Misato said – It will take at least 10 more days for it to be fully operational.

Btw what's the progress with the secondary EPU? – Misato asked.

I will finish the assembly tomorrow. – Trax said – So if we are lucky we should be able to deploy two untethered EVA's against the next attacker.

On the 09.08.2115 the Angel finally took course towards Neo Tokio-3. In the NERV HQ.

What's the status of the angel is it still moving in our direction? – Misato asked.

Yes, basing on the telemetry data we get the Angel is still on a straight course towards Neo Tokio-3, I estimate it will arrive tomorrow at about 10:00 – Aoba reported.

So it finally decided to attack. – Misato said. – Let's prepare unit 01 and 02.

Misato called in Trax's lab, Vladimir picked up the phone.

What's the progress on the secondary EPU? – Misato asked – It appears we will have to fight the angel tomorrow.

It seems to work well we are just finishing the last tests; it should be ready in time. – Vladimir said.

The next day 09:00, unit 01 and 02 have been deployed and are waiting on the shore line for the angel to arrive.

The target will arrive in about 40 minutes; satellite images don't show any new changes to the creature's body layout. – Nadia said.

Shinji, Asuka, stick to the plan like in the simulations. – Misato said – We have to be careful we don't know what the angel's offensive capabilities are.

The angel approached in time; it looks like a huge jaw with bat like wings and a long tail, is about 50 meters thick and has a length head to the tip of its tail of about 300 meters.

What an ugly looking SOB! – Asuka said.

The angel halted its flight and set down in front of the two EVA's, supporting itself on its tail. Than it fledged its teeth and roared. Asuka noticed a large red sphere inside the angel's mouth at the very end of its palate, probably the core.

That huge jaw is big enough to swallow an EVA at once. – Shinji said.

Stop whining, n00b! – Asuka said.

Pull back; let it come on dry land, it's easier for the EVA's to fight it on solid ground. – Misato ordered.

Asuka Langley does not retreat! – Asuka screamed and started an attack on the angel.

She grabbed a halberd style weapon and charged towards the Angel.

Hey! Asuka! That wasn't the plan, come back here. – Misato screamed over the coms.

The angel moved towards the EVA, unit 02 jumped in the air directly into the mouth of the beast. Asuka used the halberd to cut the better portion of the angel's upper jaw in two. Then she grabbed unit 02's prog-knife and went straight for the core. Once she rammed the blade into the sphere it cracked and shortly thereafter blew up into a few large pieces and the angel fell dead to the ground.

Asuka! What's your status?! – Misato screamed over the coms.

Killing the angel was easy; the more difficult part was getting out of this pile of angel guts, the prog-knife was broken and the other weapon out of reach.

I'm fine. I killed it! Mission accomplished! – Asuka said over the coms in the most arrogant way she possibly could.

Shinji was still speechless – Is she that good or just completely mad? – he thought.

Asuka! That was completely reckless, what the heck did you think! – Misato said still screaming.

That I can kill it, as I than did. – Asuka answered with a tone of voice making it sound completely self-evident.

That… That … – Misato said, than Trax interrupted her.

That was awesome! – Trax said.

You can't indulge such behavior, she disobeyed a direct order. She could have got herself killed. – Misato said.

Well whatever works. – Trax said and shrugged.

A few minutes later unit 02 crawled out of the pile of angel. The commander ordered the angel's carcass to be pulled onto the shore for analysis.


	12. The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still (11)

Trax is working from home on simulating some improvements to the EPU using a Taelon terminal. Some things simply cannot be simulated efficiently using classical computers.

How the heck can you read this strange Taelon language? – Asuka said – And I thought reading kanji was difficult.

The Taelon language cannot be read in any strict order and it does not have grammatical rules as such (Episode 1x11 "The Scarecrow Returns"). Instead, the language is felt by the speaker or reader in such a way that the feeling helps to clarify the meaning.

Well their language is actually quite efficient, also most of their UI's is implemented natively so not intended for human use. – Trax said.

That answers the why, not the how. – Asuka grumbled.

Hehe, well answering the how is more difficult. If you are fluid enough it just comes to you naturally, you are not reading it consciously, you just look on it and know the meaning. – Trax said.

Ah come one, I know already know 9 languages, adding an alien to it would be just perfect – Asuka said.

If you really want to try learning it you should ask Nadia, she has better linguistic skills. – Trax said – My problem is if I know something by heart I don't bother knowing the rules.

Than the main lights flickered and a holographic display showed in English: "Mains power failure!".

Mmh… that should not happen. – Trax said.

What's wrong?! – Asuka asked.

Power blackout. – Trax said. – That shouldn't happen not here, not in a city made to fight angels with giant Mecha's that relay on a wall socket to operate.

Ah that's surely only some issue with the low-voltage grid. – Asuka said and shrugged.

Nope, the power went out in the NERV HQ also. – Trax said.

What?! And how do you know that. – Asuka said.

Trax pointed on a screen displaying some Taelon text and said – It says right here – that in this particular case was disinformation, as he got the info directly from Nadia.

In the NERV HQ.

What's with the backups? – Ritsuko asked an operator.

Whenever we attempt to connect the backup generators to the grid a we got an overload error. – The operator said.

Well at least the local battery backups are working – lieutenant Hyuga said.

What's causing this outage? – sub commander Fuyutsuki asked.

Unknown! – Dr. Akagi said.

I think it must be some sort of EMP, it affect any electrical connection that is not well enough shielded. The induced currents short out any power source as well as possibly damage the equipment. – Nadia speculated.

The Neo Tokio-3. Trax tried to pull up a satellite image of the area.

Damn it, I can't establish a radio connection. – Trax said. – There is some sort of strong electromagnetic interference.

So what we are blind? – Asuka asked.

Nope, the terminal connection is still up and running, it's a photonic link. – Trax said – I just need to update the routing tables, we will however have a delay of about 5 sec.

5 Sec with a laser beam, that's awfully far away, that's like twice the distance to the moon and back. – Asuka noticed – What do you have that is so far away.

That's a topic for another time. – Trax said, while finally pulling up a "live" image with telemetry of the Neo Tokio-3 area on screen.

So? – Asuka asked.

It seems there is a strong electromagnetic field blocking radio communication and shorting out the power grid – Trax said.

An EMP? – Asuka asked. – But these weapons are pulsed as the name suggests, what on earth could create a permanent field of that magnitude.

The field shape is very irregular I think whatever creates it tries to hide its location. But that's futile, my satellites can spot anything. – Trax said, while zooming in on a forest shortly after the shore line. – Can you see it?

Asuka blinked and said – See what?

Trax pointed on the screen and said – Here, it's moving, wait I'll render a 3d image from other satellite feeds.

On the main holographic display a huge creature appeared, from the top it was colored like the woods beneath it. It looked like a gigantic 4 legged spider, it head eyes all over the sides of its body. The creature was walking slowly towards the city. The angel's main body is about 40x100 meters large, the top of its legs reach however about 300m into the sky and the front and hind legs are about 500 m apart.

That, that is a freaking angel, it camouflaged itself! – Asuka screamed.

Not just camouflaged it was also capable of evading our routine satellite scans; I would guess its ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields came in very handy. – Trax said.

Asuka sprang down from the desk she was sitting on till now and said – We have to warn NERV.

That won't be easy, as far as I can tell the initial power surge caused quite extensive damage; the geo front's access routers are unreachable. – Trax said.

What?! Have you pinged all of them? What about the optical links to the other dependences? – Asuka asked.

All routers are down. I don't have access to the optical links also that probably won't work as well; the blackout has a radius of about 150 km. – Trax said.

Damn than probably the amplifier stations are down as well. – Asuka deduced. The maximal length of a single unamplified optical link is limited due to wave packet dispersion.

Yup, we have to deliver the bad news in person. – Trax said.

In the mean time in the NERV command center Nadia pulled an unused cable from a panel and laid it down to form a single loop on the ground, she touched the booth ends together and generated a quite intense spark.

You see, the EM field is still present. It wasn't a pulse it's a strong alternating electromagnetic field. – Nadia said. – Given the required energy for that, we have to operate under the assumption that it's an angel. And it's probably approaching Neo Tokio-3 right now.

Are you sure? – The commander asked.

Well I can't imagine anything man made to be able to maintain this energy output for that long. Keep in mind that we are here about a kilometer underground behind multiple layers of shielding. – Nadia said.

I have to agree. – Ritsuko said – It's unlikely that this phenomenon is manmade and it definitely is not natural.

In this case we have to prepare the EVA's – Ikari said.

We have no pilots! – The sub commander said.

We have to hope there will be her in time. – The commander said.

There surly will be, no way Trax did not noticed that. – Nadia said.

Can we even start the EVA's without power? – Misato asked.

We can unlock the restraints manually and the EVA's themselves are heavily shielded so they should work just fine. – The commander said.

In the meantime in Neo Tokio 3.

You think we can take your car? – Asuka asked. – I mean the battery backuped things seem to run just fine.

This room is heavily shielded, given the RF power outside I wouldn't relay on any consumer hardware to work. – Trax said.

So what are we going to do? – Asuka asked.

You go get Shinji, he probably is still in Misatos apartment, and I'll get us some ride that should work no matter what – Trax said.

Ah we don't need that n00b. It's only one angel I can take care of that on my own. – Asuka said.

I don't doubt that, but given what's on stake we shouldn't take even the slightest risk. – Trax said.

Fine – Asuka said and left to grab the unit 01 pilot.

As soon as Asuka left the room Trax opened a link to the Taelon mothership – Da'an, send a shuttle on autopilot to land on the building's roof.

The shuttle will be on its way shortly. – Da'an said.

We may also need some spare subspace transceivers. – Trax added.

While the Taelon structure is equipped with subspace transceivers as well allowing for a delay free communication over large distances the primary data lines are implemented using photonic links as this way higher data rates are possible.

Asuka returned with Shinji. All three than went to the roof where the shuttle have already been waiting. Trax boarded the shuttle.

Pick a place and buckle up. – Trax said

How are we going to get to the head quarter? – Shinji asked.

This aircraft can travel outside the normal space-time; we can drop out of the interdimension directly inside the geo front. – Trax said – But first we need to pick up Rei.

Inside the NERV HQ command central, the staff managed to get some CCTV from the city and other sensors up and running, using local battery power and optical data links.

We have prepared everything, we just need the pilots. – Ritsuko said.

They are on their way. – Maya said – Without power it takes some time to get from the main entrance to the EVA cage.

What's the progress on the evacuation of the city? – Misato asked.

Mostly completed. – Maya reported. – When we deploy the EVA's we should be done.

A few minutes later the three pilots and Trax arrived at the EVA cage.

What's the status outside? – The commander asked.

The angel is closing in, given its last position it should be arriving at the outer perimeter of the city any moment. – Trax said.

Do you think we can maintain a stable com link to the units? – Ritsuko asked

Not using RF, are the EVA's equipped with some sort of visible light communication? – Trax said.

No, only radio. – Ritsuko said.

That will be a problem than. – Trax said – Good that I brought some Taelon hardware to help with that issue.

Trax opened the suitcase he brought from the shuttle, inside were 4 Taelon com modules.

These are sub space transceivers, they allow for almost instantaneous communication outside the normal space-time. They can be programmed to operate with any optical input, so basically you just need to attach a mechanically compatible fiber coupler and you can strap it into the normal data switches of the EVA. – Trax said.

You are not seriously expecting us to attach not audited hardware to our systems. – The sub commander said.

Well eider that or you can make the EVA's use sign language. – Trax said.

Dr. Akagi, how fast can we improvise some visible light communication system for the EVA's? – The sub commander asked.

Not in time I'm afraid, although for short range we could even just use audio directly. However that would mean deploying the EVA's completely without any telemetry supervision. If anything goes wrong we couldn't intervene in any way. – Ritsuko said.

What's the risks using not audited transceivers? – Commander Ikari asked.

Well, given that the data going through are already encrypted, it's really not that much different than someone eavesdropping on the radio communication directly. – Ritsuko said.

Fine do it, just keep that out of the reports. – The commander said.

Trax, what's the range of this transceivers and the maximal data rate. – Ritsuko asked.

Well, for under 10 light years about 10 gbit – Trax said.

What?! – Ritsuko said a bit shocked – Well that will be more than enough then.

Relaying only on radio communication was a serious oversight, Dr. Akagi. – The sub commander said – I expect that this issue will be resolved later.

Yes, of cause commander. – Ritsuko said.

The com modules have been installed and the three evangelions activated.

Units 00, 01 and 02 activated. – Maya said.

Release the holding bolts. – Ritsuko ordered.

Listen up! – Misato said over the coms – We don't have enough power to pull back the shoulder mountings, so you will have to push them back manually.

How are we going to get up to the surface? – Asuka asked.

Well that will be a problem, you will have to go to the outer perimeter of the geo front and crawl out through the south escape tunnel. – Misato said.

Normally the EVA's are transported to the surface using elevators that move in telescope like connection ports that are extended from the ground of the geo front to the bottom of the city. However without a lot of power there is now no way using those.

20 minutes later the three EVA units arrived at the surface. Unit 00 was equipped with a long range large caliber rifle, unit's one and two booth have a Pallet Rifle, as well as a large ax, unit 02 and a Halberd unit 01. And all three were equipped with a prog-knife and a "small" caliber pistol like weapon.

That thing is huge! – Shinji said.

It only looks that way because of the legs; in fact it has less volume than the last one I killed. – Asuka said self-confident.

Be careful Asuka, we could observe the last angel for quite some time and head a rough idea of its offensive capabilities. About this one we know nothing. – Misato said.

Asuka approached one of the angel's legs; she holed out the ax to attack and activated units 02's AT-Field in order to break through the angel's defenses. In that instance the creature fired a light beam out of one of its smaller eyes. The beam pierced units 02 right arm strait through.

Scheiße verdamte! – Asuka swore in German while she took cover behind one of the buildings.

What the heck was that? – She asked.

It appears to have been a strong light beam. – Trax said – Apparently an AT-Field is not an adequate protection.

You mean like a laser. – Misato asked.

Possibly although to say that defiantly I need a measurement with a better spectrum resolution. – Trax said while typing in some commands to reconfigure one of the satellites optical sensors.

The angel continued on its way towards the city center.

When Unit 02 activated it's AT-Field, there were no interference effects. The angel did not deploy an own AT-Field – Nadia said.

You mean the angel cannot generate an AT-Field? – Misato asked.

No, given its size and body geometry it couldn't support itself without the structural integrity amplifying effects of an Internal AT-Field. But apparently it lacks the ability to project a field outwards. – Nadia said

Its eider using too much energy for generating the EM field that is jamming our systems or it has sacrificed its ability to project an AT-Field for the ability to manipulate electric and magnetic fields. – Nadia speculated.

So against this particular angel our conventional weaponry would be effective. – Misato concluded.

I have reconfigured one of the satellites if the angel shoots again we will know more about the exact nature of its weapon. – Trax said.

We managed to get some of the tactical systems back on line. – Aoba said – We can try it.

Ok, than lets fire two missiles on the angel. – Misato ordered.

The angel shoot down booth rockets before they could come near him.

It seems for this one attack is the best defense. – Misato said.

Well interesting, the spectral width of the light it's using is about 30 picomaters, it really looks like the creature can generate laser beams. – Trax said.

So? – Misato asked.

We could disperse a dye which has a strong absorptive line at the angel's laser wavelength. – Trax suggested. – This way it couldn't use its weapon while we would still maintain enough visibility to attack it.

Do we have anything at our disposal that could do the job? – Ritsuko asked.

According to the shipping manifests of some cargo ships lying currently at the docs we would have the needed ingredients. – Lieutenant Ibuki reported.

Misato thought for a few moments and said – So let's do it.

Unit 01 will pick up the "smoke bombs" – as she called the soon to be improvised contraptions – Unit 00 will take positioned to target the angel with its rifle. Once Shinji is back units 01 and 02 will deploy the "smoke bombs" than unit 00 will get out from behind its cover and try to destroy the target with its rifle.

I want to destroy it! – Asuka said over the coms.

Nope, your unit is damaged, and we need precise targeting. – Misato ordered. – Now its Rei's turn, Is that clear.

Fine she can have a try. – Asuka said – But in case she fails, I'm next.

N00b, when you are at the docks grab also a tanker or two with ANFO – Asuka commanded.

An… what? – Shinji asked.

That's ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixture a powerful explosive that can be manufactured quite easily. – Trax explained over the coms.

Unit 01 ran towards the docs. While the angel continued on its way towards the city center. It took position above a heavily shielded access tunnel and started spraying acid over it in an attempt to break through to the geo front.

That's not good! – Aoba said – Its progressing quite fast.

I wonder if we couldn't just assault it from the geo front. – Lieutenant Ibuki asked.

Not a good idea, too many armored plates in-between and moving the EVA's through Neo Tokio-3's "underground" tunnels would take too long. – Misato said.

About half an hour later unit 01 returned with a few tanker trucks filled with a mix that once ignited would generate thick smoke clouds carrying the dye particles.

Ok, we are ready for the next try. – Misato said – Asuka grab two containers and you both will throw them on the angel on my command, is that clear.

Yes – Shinji answered.

Fine – Asuka agreed.

Given the amount of acid this creature is deploying I speculate that the pH of its body fluids must be very low as well, so be careful and avoid any contact. – Trax said.

Ok, Rei go in position. Shinji, Asuka, grab the first container and take aim. – Misato commanded.

I'm in position – Rei said over the coms.

Throw the first salve. – Misato ordered.

The angel shot onto booth containers igniting them in flight and spilling the content over a large area partially covering itself.

Next one. – Misato screamed over the coms.

Unit 01 and 02 threw again this time the angels attempt to shot the containers down already failed; the containers landed next to its main body and started creating additional smoke.

That looks good, Rei! Take aim and shoot! – Misato ordered.

Unit 00 got out from behind a building and opened fire on the angel, 3 out of 5 rounds hit the angel dead center. The creature however still continued to move.

I'm out of munition. – Rei said.

Why isn't it dead? – Shinji asked.

Apparently the commander's favorite missed the core. – Asuka said. – Now it's my turn.

Asuka grabbed a tanker with ANFO and her ax and ran towards the angel keeping cover behind large buildings. Then she started climbing on a toll one next to the angel.

Are you crazy going so close near it? – Misato asked over them coms.

Nope, the creature does not appear to have any "eyes" on the top and it stands to argue that the attack angle of its beams is limited. – Asuka said – I should be able to get on top of it without getting in the way of its weapon.

Unit 02 reached the top of the building and jumped down on top of the angel, using the ax to create a large hole in its upper shell. She crammed the tanker inside. Then she activated her AT field and used the EVA's "hand" gun to detonate the tanker. A massive explosion shook the city and unit 02 was thrown a few blocks away, though thanks to the AT-Field largely unharmed.

Brrr.. that was unpleasant – Asuka said. – What's the status of the Target?

Trax send a live satellite feed to unit 02 showing what was left of the angel.

Well close but no cigar – he said – there are still life signs the core is still intact, it's already regenerating.

But now at least the core is uncovered! – Asuka said while taking a closer look on the satellite images. – And the think is not moving right now.

I'll finish it off. – Asuka said while approaching the angel her unit 02 still holding the "hand" gun in the undamaged left arm.

Be careful – Misato said – look around, Trax was right: the angel's blood is strongly acetic.

I hope our insurance against property damage is worth its money – Asuka said while running with unit 02 against a toll building, knocking it over onto the angel.

WTF!... – Misato screamed over the coms.

Then she walked on top of it towards the core took aim and unloaded her remaining clip into the target. The core cracked and eventually exploded. In that very instance what remained of the angel started dissolving.

Get out of there, without the structural integrity increasing effect of the AT-Field the creature's tissue probably can't withstand its own pH! – Trax said.

Ok, what's the worst case? – Asuka asked while carefully going back. The dissolving angel body made the building lying on top of it rather unstable.

Worst case it blows up. – Trax said. Unit 02 increased its pace and moved to safety as fast as it could.

A few minutes later some parts of the angel caught on fire but an explosion luckily was left out.

That's kind of anticlimactic – Asuka said – and I hoped for a nice explosion.

Be happy this way our insurance has to pay less. – Misato said – Also don't forget that this are not unused buildings normally there are people living there and now a few hundred of them will have to find new places to stay.

Later in the evening, the EVA units have been parked on the outer perimeter of Neo Tokio-3. Lying flat down on the belly allows turning them off without any damages. The three pilots are sitting on a hill and watching the city. A Taelon shuttle dropped out of the interdimension and landed. Trax and Nadia exited and set down to the pilots.

It looks like you will be able to enjoy this view for quite some time. – Trax said – The damages to the power grid will take at least 3 days to be fixed.

That's ok – Shinji said – The view on the stars is much better without all this artificial lights.

Yea, but the city looks so dead. – Asuka said.

Mankind fears the darkness and so it scrapes away the edges of it with fire – Rei said.

How philosophic. – Asuka said.

Fire is one of the more peculiar forces of nature, its life and progress as well as death and destruction at the same time. – Trax said.

The nuclear fire of the sun gives us light and warmth, making life on this planet possible in the first place. – Nadia said.

Yet it also will be the undoing of all this, when it has depleted its hydrogen reserves and will start to cool down. It will assume the color of blood and it will start to expand. The temperatures on earth will rise and make any life on the surface impossible; there where once was the Atlantic Ocean will be just an endless desert. The hellish red sun will eventually consume all four inner planets of the solar system, before eventually collapsing into a black star. – Rei said

Well more than enough time for mankind to advance into the cold depth of space and find new homes. – Trax said.

You think so? That mankind will once, like the Taelons, be able to exist outside its own solar system. – Asuka asked.

I'm quite sure of that. – Trax said.

I'm wondering if mankind is something special, first the Taelons showed interest in us and now we are under attack by these angel creatures. – Shinji said.

Well mankind surely has a vast potential, probably one of the greatest. – Nadia said. – But that's not why the angels are attacking.

I think. – She added, disclosing their insights into the situation to the pilots of unit 01 and 02 at this time was not part of the plan.


	13. The captured angel tryes to escape

When NERV was fighting the second angel to attack Neo Tokio-3 they managed to severely damage it using a large AntiNeutron bomb. Commander Ikari ordered what was left of the creature to me moved to a research facility located in the east Siberian see. It is a huge man made structure that has been built for such a case, to contain and study an angel if one should ever be captured. The facility is top secret and NERV to date did not share any information's with our protagonists.

After 2 months of captivity the angel managed to regenerate and broke out of its primary confinement section called "limbo area", now running havoc inside the base.

05:23 inside the base's command center.

Keep the subject contained at all costs, we cannot allow it to escape! – the base commander said over the coms. His name is Leonid Alexandrowitsch Krylow, he is a marshal in the soviet federation army.

How could a containment system as secure as Cocytus been neutralized? – he asked the command center operatives.

It appears the angel developed somehow immunity to the stasis field and the sedation – an operative answered.

When can we deploy the provisional unit 06 – The marshal asked?

T -80 seconds till activation attempt – another operative answered.

Due to the importance of the operation NERV build a new provisional EVA unit using spare parts previously manufactured for unit 00 and 02 as well as some parts that were intended for the units 04 and 05 which are being currently manufactured by the North American Empire. The unit is not like regular EVA's mostly biological but instead all its limbs are prosthetic. Instead of two legs the unit it has 4 which are equipped with weal's as for moving in corridors with flat floors that is favorable, however it can also use the legs for regular walking. The power supply is realized using resonant inductive coupling using tuned wire coils spread all-around the base and the EVA's compound armor. As the head of NERV Commander Ikari did not want to disclose any details about the operation to the Taelons the use of one of their fusion reactors was not an option. To pilot the new unit a new pilot has been designated the 4th child, Mari Illustrious.

Inside Units 06 entry plug.

Start entry sequence. – The operation commander said over the coms, his name is Eric Clifford he has the rang of a Captain.

Autonomous systems nominal. Supply voltage within operational parameters, activation requirements are go. – An operator said.

Synchronization rate is within operational limits – Another operator said. The entry plug walls started displaying a boot up sequence.

Pilot, please verify entry plug communication systems operation. – An operator said.

Testing one two one two, testing can you hear me – Mari said.

Roger com link active – the operator replied.

I'm sorry that we have to send you into your first battle with this scraped together provisional unit. – Captain Clifford said over the coms.

I'm just happy to pilot something, finally! – Mari said.

Good luck – the Captain said.

That is so exciting, Evangelion provisional unit 06 activate! – Mari said and the EVA activated successfully.

Ok, listen in, the enemy is currently moving through the "Styx corridors". The "Malebolge System" intended to hold the angel, actually does not even seem to be able to impede its progress towards the main shaft. We cannot let it escape! You have to destroy it at all cost. – The captain said over the coms.

Unit 06 approached the angel; the creature has changed significantly from when it was encountered for the first time. While back then the angel had two tentacles and a rather large tail section. Now its lower half was completely gone, instead it grew 4 more tentacles.

The tentacles when extended begin to shine and are able to melt through most structural components of the base. This capability was already present when the creature had only two but it was not observed.

Unit 06 was equipped with an impromptu shield like unit 00 had during the counter with the crystalline angel; it has two weapons a long spear and a chainsaw sword where each saw tooth is a small prog-knife blade.

In units 06 entry plug.

There it is! – Mari said – Activating At-Field.

Unit 06 tried to pin the creature down with its spear, however the creature evaded the attack and deployed its tentacles. The impromptu shield managed to withstand the temperature but not so the surrounding corridor, large pieces of the ceiling fallen down and blocked it.

Damn that thing is fast! – Mari said over the coms. – Where is it going now?

The angel appears to have cut through the floor and is now 4 levels lower – An operator said over the coms.

Stupid SOB, it took out the flor from under itself, the way out is the opposite way. – Mari said.

Be careful, it appears the creature cut the flor on purpose. – Captain Clifford said.

Unit 06 broke through the rubble and jumped down the whole to follow the creature.

Which way? – Mari asked. A map of the complex showing the angel and the EVA position appeared in the entry plug.

Unit 06 went after the angel, the creature cut through 3 more floors taking a main power conduit out, half the base lost power.

In the command center.

Status?! – The marshal asked.

43% of the power grid is down, critical systems operating on battery backups. – An operator said.

Status of unit 06? – The marshal asked

Running on battery about 15 minutes of activity left. – Captain Clifford answered. The unit being to a large part mechanical had a lower idle power consumption as well as larger backup batteries hence it could stay active three times longer than a regular model.

Send repair crews to reroute the power. – Krylow ordered.

What's the creature doing? – He asked.

The angel is now on level 0, it appears not to be moving at the moment. – The chef operator said, her name was Julia Rostova.

What is on level 0 that it may be interested in, does it want to break through the ocean floor? – Clifford asked an operator.

Unlikely, it would be easier for it to go through the perimeter wall. – Operator Rostova said.

In the mean time in the NERV-HQ, Gendo, Fuyutsuki and Dr. Akagi are on a tele-conference in Ikaris office with marshal Krylow and some more Russian military.

You have assured us that the Cocytus system is secure and that it will contain the creature. – Marshal Krylow screamed.

All our findings indicated that it should have worked; the chance of failure was only 0.001% according to our assessment. – Dr. Akagi replied.

It does not matter, it happened, now we have to deal with the situation. – Gendo said.

If we lose the base the Japanese government will have to pay for the damages. – A high ranking Russian official said.

The more pressing issue is that as it stands we cannot evacuate the base due to a severe storm. – Marshal Krylow said. – If we will have to trigger the self-destruct we will lose essential personnel!

This is being dealt with right now; a sub is on its way to your base to pick up the scientists. – Another Russian official said.

Still the base is manned with about 500 people; a sub can take 100 at most. – Dr. Akagi argued.

The military personal is dispensable. – The Russian official replied.

After the meeting commander Ikari ordered NERV to be ready for battle, in case the angel manages to break out and for whatever reason the base self-destruct fails or the angel withstands it. 20 minutes later in NERV's command center.

That is strange, it's the first time we have been ordered to prepare for battle without an angel approaching. – Misato said.

Well probably it's a drill. – Lieutenant Hyuga said.

I don't think so – Maya Ibuki argued – Dr. Akagi seems awfully tense.

Nadia, are you sure that your satellites can't pick up anything that may be a new angel? – Misato asked

No, but as we seen with the last spider like creature it was able to evade our regular detection schemes. Possibly the creature was just spotted by the military or some civilians. – Nadia speculated.

I don't think so. – Lieutenant Aoba said – If they would have spotted an angel why not tell us; why not deploy some surveillance aircrafts.

What if it's not a new angel but an old one?! – Trax said – Nadia, scan the Acheron base, for anything suspicious.

Acheron base? – Misato asked.

That's the place Gendo ordered the remains of the angel we blew up to be brought to. – Trax said – I'm surprised you were not informed.

And you were? – Maya asked.

Nope, but we observe the whole planet, and an angel is too big to be moved without us seeing. – Trax said.

Right and how do you know the bases name? – Misato asked suspiciously.

Well Russian military is quite corrupt, although I have to admit that that may not be the bases real name, it may be only the name of its part, or may be even they just sold us expensive bullshit. Anyhow the name is cool so we will stick to it until we know better. – Trax said smirking.

Well, currently there is nothing significant I can spot, although some routine scans from about an hour ago showed some energy spikes of unknown origin. – Nadia said.

So it could be that it's trying to break out. – Misato said.

I really can't say anything definitive at this point. – Nadia said – The base is pretty well shielded and in addition to that a large storm is interfering with some of the scanners.

In the meantime at the base.

What's the status of the creature? – The major asked.

It is still residing at level 0, we don't have any telemetry from there the power on level o is still down. – An operator said.

When will the power grid be repaired? – Captain Clifford asked.

It's almost done. – Another operator said.

We could send one of the drones to look for the angel which we use to secure the base's airspace. – Operator Rostova sugested. – We would only need reconfigure the drone to work with bases WiFi access points instead of its current communication system.

Do it! – The captain ordered.

10 minutes later one of the drones was ready and sent in to level 0. Also the power grid has been repaired and unit 06 approached the breach through which the angel entered level 0.

The level was usually sealed off from the rest of the base it is the oldest part of the base which was build long before the rest of the base was built on top. It was initially built for deep sea fracking by the soviet federation. After most of the resources at that location were depleted the location was sold to the predecessor organization of NERV and the actual base was built on top.

The drone entered level 0 following the path of destruction the creature left behind. Unit 06 wen it shortly thereafter.

Guys, what's that sludge on the floor here every ware? – Mari asked.

Possibly some oil leaked out from the old mining equipment. – An operator speculated over the coms.

Right and why isn't it burning? That beast was pretty generous with setting everything else on fire in the upper levels. – Mari asked.

It could be mixed with leaking in see water making it unable to sustain a fire, or possibly it was and it consumed all the oxygen down there and went out. – Operator Rostova speculated.

Well the environmental sensors show a low oxygen concentration but not that low. – Mari said.

That does not contradict the hypotheses; the live support probably refreshed the air after the power went back on. – Clifford said. – Go back to level 1; let's wait for the drone to spot the angel.

The captain cut the com feed.

We have to be careful since there is nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal. – The Captain said.

Do you think the angel may try to set a trap? – Rostova asked – Intending to ignite the oil once unit 06 is in deep?

It's a possibility. – The captain said.

Some minutes later the drone spotted the angel. The creature managed to increase in size by about 50% also it appears now to have grown a thick plate-like armor.

That does not look good, how the heck could it grow so much in that few minutes? – Rostova said. – When it was captured it needed orders of magnitude more time to regenerate.

NERV Central was updated about the most recent developments. After that in Gendos office.

That looks bad. – Dr. Akagi said. – The provisional unit was never intended to fight a fully regenerated angel. Frankly especially not this one, the AT-Field of 06 protects mostly only its organic parts. Hence the angel will have no difficulties to sever the unit's limbs with its tentacles.

Indeed, and a fight from a distance is not an option in this, for an EVA tight, corridors. – Fuyutsuki said – We will probably have to write off the base. That is unless we allow the creature to escape.

That is not an option; the angel must be contained at all cost. – Gendo said.

Well in that case we could send one of our EVA units to fight it; it would have a much better stand against this particular angel. – Dr. Akagi suggested.

It would take about 2 hours to fly a unit there also the storm would require a high altitude drop, so no way back if something goes wrong. – Fuyutsuki argued – We should order the self-destruct before the angel regenerates further.

Brief the staff about the situation let's see if they can come up with some other options, I'm very reluctant to risk one of our units for that. – Gendo ordered.

I'll do that right away. – Ritsuko said and left the office.

A few minutes later in NERV's command center.

Isn't that obvious! – Trax said – The angel is using the crude oil as well as the leaking in see water to regenerate its lost biomass. These creatures in contrary to other live forms on earth don't need food for energy as they have their S2 organs. But if they want to grow they still need elements; mostly carbon oxygen and hydrogen, like any other biological live form. Except the crystalline creature we haven't encountered one which would be able to transform one element into another. So they still are limited to chemistry for their bodily functions.

You should have informed us right away about the situation. – Nadia said – As it stands now the creature had an hour and an endless food supply to regenerate itself.

Well any suggestions? – Ritsuko asked – If that's the case we should act asap. Deploying another EVA may not be an option in the end as in 2 hours it probably will be to late anyways.

How much AntiNeutrons are currently in the bases reactor? – Asuka asked.

Emm…. about a kilogram. – Ritsuko said.

What?! That's like …. a 20 mega ton explosion. – Asuka said.

Well if that thing goes up that will be the second biggest man made explosion to date. – Trax said.

Only the "second" biggest?! – Asuka asked.

Yep on the 30th October 1961 the Soviet Union tested their Tsar Bomb, a three stage thermonuclear device with a yield of about 50 mega tons. – Trax said. – Actually measured on the amount of fallout in comparison to the explosion energy it was one of the cleanest nuclear bombs ever created.

Ok, than I guess we should try to avoid that. – Misato said.

Right! I already have some ideas. – Trax said – The creature is still regenerating so it is by far not at its full strength. Also these tentacles we should get rid of those.

How?! – Misato interrupted.

That's easy, just flood the bases basement with pure oxygen and throw in a match. – Trax said.

Are you serious? – Misato asked

Yep that should burn at about 1500°C I don't think the creature is able to withstand that temperatures for long. – Trax said.

What about its tentacles we estimated they cut with about 2000°C. – Ritsuko argued.

We know an AT-Field can increase the temperature stability of bio-molecules but I can't imagine that effect resulting in an increase of more than an order of magnitude in absolute numbers. – Trax said – The bright violate light emitted by the tentacles when operating does not correspond to the black body radiation temperature of 2300K or even 3000K. My hypotheses is that the angel ignites a plasma over its skin, actually the color even corresponds to nitrogen plasma, it probably keeps it confined using electric or magnetic fields such that it does not touch its skin which may be highly reflective and or a good thermal isolator.

What about the base wont it be destroyed, and then boooom!? – Misato asked

Well according to the structural information's you shared the original mining structure was actually build to contain an oil leak as well as a fire. Unlike the rest of the new base its outer perimeter is covered by a thick ceramic compound which has an extremely low thermal conductivity. – Trax said. – So in short it should be just fine.

Well than I guess it's worth a try. – Misato said.

The creature is expanding its tentacles quite a lot, what if it can pull them fully into its body for protection. With all this armor on its head it reminds me of an armored squid. – Asuka said – We need a backup plan to disable them in case the creature survives the fire unharmed.

Good point! – Trax said – Basically its some kind of a plasma blade, how do we scramble this.

Can we just pull a vacuum on that part of the base? – Asuka asked – Given the pressure it was built to withstand down there the additional pressure difference should be negligible.

Sure but if there are pipes or cable tubes connecting the old with the new base that may be a challenging task, to many leaks. – Trax argued. – And what about the big gaping hole the angel ripped into it?

Well that can be found out it's a military base plus it's Russian they bureaucracy is legendary they surely have records on every single hole they drilled into the old structure. – Asuka said.

True, still there is already oil and see water already leaking there are surly some undocumented holes. – Trax said.

Do you have a better idea?! – Asuka asked.

Always! – Trax said – How about we flood the basement with Sulfur hexafluoride it's basically an isolator, it's used in high voltage installations to prevent arcing, so the angel should have its difficulty making plasma out of that.

Mmh... That could work in theory; however they most likely do not have enough of it in stock. – Asuka argued.

For the entire basement probably but if the creature will have survived we can temporarily trap it in one of the higher levels and then pour the gas in. – Misato suggested.

Why so complicated! – Nadia said – Just flood the basement level with sea water. While it is possible to use plasma torches underwater they operate with a dedicated gas supply. Making plasma directly out of water won't work as it will dissipate too much energy. So the creature's offensive capabilities should be greatly reduced.

Can unit 06 operate under water? – Misato asked.

Yes it can. – Ritsuko said – However one more problem Level 0 is not equipped with the inductive power supply system for unit 06. – Ritsuko said – There should be some power still radiating from level 1 but the coverage may have gaps and the total power available will be probably around 20% only.

That should not be such a big issue since as you said earlier the unit can run for up to 15 minutes on backup, if the pilot is any good that's more than enough time. – Asuka said. – Who is that new pilot anyways?

Mari Illustrious, she was recruited by the British MI5, everything else is confidential. – Dr. Akagi said.

Shortly thereafter in the Acheron base.

The plan is insane! – Krylow said. – They can't really expect us to follow through with it.

If the creature resumes its escape attempt the base will be destroyed one way or another. – Clifford said – So we don't really have a choice here.

I like the plan, lets smoke out that thing so I can kill it. – Mari said over the coms.

Rostova, what's you assessment of the situation. – Krylow Asked.

Well, level 0 should indeed be able to withstand it. Also we can put the fire out at any point just by cutting the oxygen supply. I would recommend we try it. – She said

Very well, do it. – The marshal ordered.

Rostova followed the order promptly. A few minutes later they were ready to do through with the plan. Unit 06 is waiting in front of the breach to the "basement" for the angel to come out.

Oxygen concentration at 96% that is high enough. – Rostova said.

Good, ignite the oil. – Krylow Ordered.

An explosion shuck the base. A ball of flame came out of the breach to the "basement" which now was entirely engulfed in very bright flames.

What if the creature does not come out? – Mari asked.

Well than we wait for the fire to burn out and then you have to get in there. – The captain said over the coms.

Awesome! – Mari said.

NERV central has been patched into the comm-channel, so they are following the action in real time.

Well it does not appear to be coming out… – Misato said.

I'm telling you it retrieved into that armor shell it's grown on its head. – Asuka said.

Possibly although it won't fit entirely inside it so it will have to discard at least 30% or 40% of the newly acquired biomass. – Nadia speculated.

You think that shell is fireproof. – Misato said.

That's a likely assumption, if the creature's skin is very fire resistant and it would grow its armor from a similar material than yes. – Asuka argued.

About half an hour later the fire burned out, level 0 is pretty much completely destroyed most of what was inside has melted in the heat. Captain Clifford ordered level 0 to be fully flooded.

Ok Mari, go in and locate the creatures remains, but be careful it may be still alive. – He ordered.

I sure hope it is. It would be a pity if it would just dyed, denying me the opportunity to end it myself. – Mari said with a rather sinister tone of voice.

Unit 06 went in and was heading to the location where the angel was last spotted. And there it was; only the armor plated head was left closed up with a bone cap.

Let's see if it's well done or still raw inside – Mari said and unit 06 pulled out the chainsword and started cutting into the creatures Schell.

The creature roared and blew of the lid it sealed itself in. Unit 06 jumped back and blocked the creature's tentacles of with its shield. The sea water indeed disabled their cutting edge qualities. The angel sprinted towards the breach to leave level 0, headed after it units 06 in pursuit leaving the shield behind.

That damn bloody thing is still alive and kicking. – Mari screamed over the coms.

Unit 06 caught up with the angel and grabbed one of its tentacles. The entry plug displayed a damage report for the right arm. All sensors in the fingers went down. Apparently the creature still tried to ignite the plasma. And for that it was using a strong electric field destroying or jamming the electronics in the fingers. Luckily they have been manufactured like in a real human that is the actuators ware placed in the Forearm and only mechanically connected to the fingers. Hence it could hold on to the creature.

Got you! – Mari screamed.

The creature not being able to break free just detached the tentacle. But unit 06 managed to pin it down with the spear, tight through the body part sticking out of the shell where the tentacles have been attached to.

You are not getting away not this time! – Mari screamed.

Unit 06 pulled out the chainsword again and attempted to break through the shell. After some struggle the shell broke in two exposing the angel's core.

You are finished! – Mari screamed over the coms.

In that instance the creature through off its shell and wrapped itself tightly around unit 06 trying to crush it, the entry plug display damage reports from all the prosthetic parts.

Bloody bastard why won't you die! – Mari screamed, she used units 06 At field to push the creature and the water away sufficiently to grab the prog-knife it head as backup directed held with the Handle onto the units chest, the blade pointing at the angels core. Then she collapsed the AT field, the angel rammed itself with all its force into the knife. The Core broke and that was the end of it.

Finally, what a tough beast that was. – Mari said over the coms.

Authors note: I know you would like this to end with an explosion, but since water is incompressible that would result in the energy being transferred onto the basement level's walls no way it would withstand this, than the rest would have collapsed and then the reactor would blew up and we don't want that.

A few hours later in a park inside the Geo-Front, due to not being eaves dropped on.

What do you think, how did the angel managed to break out. – Misato asked.

Well shouldn't you be asking Ritsuko this? – Trax asked back.

She is not going to tell me, I already tried. I know only that it was held captive using some sort of sedation. – Misato said – But you two must have some theories.

These creatures have a favorable brain size to body ratio – Nadia said – so it's likely they may be quite intelligent. I would guess it understood how it is being held captive and then it used its ability to change its body to break loose.

But it's a damn beast, even if it's intelligent how can it be so smart? – Misato argued.

Well it may not have had the benefit of a civilization to collect knowledge, but it lived for over 10 000 years. It could have found out quite lot of things on its own. – Nadia said.

10,000 years?! – Misato said.

For being tasked with defeating these creatures, you know awfully little about them. – Trax said

What are you basing this observation on? – Asuka asked.

Our drones have been collecting probes of the defeated angels; an isotope analysis of core bone fragment suggest that age. – Nadia said.

Emm… you are doing your own research on the angels and not telling NERV about it? – Misato asked.

Well we are freelance consultants acting on our own behalf, we don't work for NERV we work with NERV. – Trax said.

Look Misato, NERV must know much more than they make public, in the end the EVA's are manufactured from cloned Angel tissue. – Nadia said. – You are being kept deliberately in the dark and I think it's time you do something about it.

What else have you found out? – Misato asked.

Comparing the DNA of the angels we encountered till now, it appears they have a common origin. – Nadia said.

Well I could figure that much – Misato said.

I don't mean they are related to each other, what I mean is they started out as exact clones, from their DNA I could also reconstruct the original DNA sequence. – Nadia said.

How did you manage that, if they evolve than genetic drift would have made that very difficult? – Asuka asked.

Normally that's correct, but it appears these creatures when they evolve they only add new genes, or deactivate existing once; They don't remove or alter existing sequences. – Nadia explained – Hence whatever all three have in common is most likely the original sequence.

Now this one actually opens more questions than it answers. – Nadia continued – It appears the original sequence has been artificially engineered.

What?! – Misato said – You mean someone made the angels 10 000 years ago.

That is the most likely conclusion – Nadia said.

Why do you think that it is artificial? – Asuka asked.

Well, for the DNA of all sexually reproducing creatures living on earth one can reconstruct an ancestral tree. – Nadia said – Not so for the angels, these creatures appear to have genetic traits of multiple organisms that cannot interbreed, plus a lot of unique sequences that to me at least look artificial.

Like if someone would have taken a template organism, and then started patching the code with snippets from other sources and some new code as well. – Trax added.

So only from the DNA of living animals you can trace every mutation that made the animal in what it is today back in time? – Misato asked.

Well not quite. – Trax said – Pinpointing every mutation back in time is difficult if the genetic diversity inside a population is very small, like for Homo sapiens for example. Than you may only be able to point to a few ten or hundred thousand years where some essential mutations must have happened, but the order and exact timing is not recoverable.

That's obvious! – Asuka interrupted – More interesting is what was the template animal?

Well it appears to have been Homo sapiens. – Nadia said.

What?! – Misato screamed – Are you F***ing serious?

What else have you expected, the leaked recordings of the creature that blew up with the South Pole clearly showed it was humanoid and the EVA's are basically oversized humans. – Trax said.


	14. The falling angel (12)

I was trying to find out something about that new pilot. – Asuka said.

And? – Trax asked.

Nothing, it's like she does not exist. – Asuka said.

Well, if as Dr. Akagi said she was recruited by the British intelligence they may have given her a new identity. – Trax said.

I know, so the question is what you managed to find out? – Asuka asked. – With your resources I'm pretty sure you managed to find something.

Hehe, not much I'm afraid. – Trax said. – What do you want to know?

How is she? I mean the third child was a total disappointment. I really hope that the new pilot is someone interesting. – Asuka said.

Don't you think that you are may be a little bit too harsh with Shinji. – Trax said.

Ah come on, he's a total noob and every second sentence or so from him is an apology for something. – Asuka said.

Well it's not his fault he is Japanese they are raised to be very polite and about being a noob for how little time he was a pilot he is actually quite good. – Trax said.

Anyhow you'll be glad to hear that Mari appears to have had some military training before becoming an EVA pilot. – Trax said. – But other than that I don't found anything remarkable.

So you got a dossier on her? – Asuka asked. – I want to see it!

Here you go. – Trax said and passed Asuka a tablet.

That looks promising. She was in a military grammar school and later had a year of military training with the British SAS, before joining NERV. – Asuka said.

I wouldn't be so sure of that, exceptional people rarely have strait forward careers. – Trax said.

That's not true, look on my CV. I'm on a perfect career fast lane I got my master's degree at an age of 13… – Asuka argued.

Well, that's only the official story, isn't it? – Trax said.

To becoming exceptional a person requires more than just intellect and to go to the right schools. – Trax added. – If I remember correctly you didn't bother to make any friends while studying in Heidelberg. Why was that?

The people there ware eider boring or stupid often booth. – Asuka said.

Ah come on, there were dozens of brilliant students not only you. Also universities are the place where you can find the most unconventional thinkers. – Trax said.

Apparently not! – Asuka Argued.

Look, for what I observed, what you consider worthwhile are people who are high performing with strait forward careers yet are non-conformists, people that challenge society and established norms. – Trax said. – You were not interested in the people with good grades and strait forward progress as they were boring. On the other hand interesting people that challenged norms and broke rules had bad grades or did not went along with their studies in a timely fashion, or did other things that made you put them in the underperformer category.

Well, yea I suppose that's right. – Asuka said. – So?

So! These two properties rarely go hand in hand; actually they are mutually exclusive. – Trax said.

That's nonsense, look at me for example. – Asuka said.

People when they start they life's are driven by instinct, and these is to fit into the society accumulate social status and/or resources, etc… like any other grater apes. – Trax said. – People who are high performing without any deficits just fit into the society no matter how broken it may be and they can play by almost any nonsensical rules and still come out on top and this approach is the safest one. Why should they challenge the system if they can win anyhow, there is no point in that. To develop critical thinking, own independent thoughts, and ideas a person needs to have the need for that. And this need arrives from not being able to fit into the society or from not being able to perform on a satisfying level in the society with its current rules, or some other trigger event…

To put it more bluntly to become an interesting person you need not only raw intelligence but you also must be broken in some way. – Trax summarized. – If you are "perfect" than you will never have the need for that.

What about me? – Asuka said. – I'm highly intelligent, a hardworking student and I look just great! No handicaps of any kind!

Well you are borderline antisocial for starters! – Trax said.

Look, you know I know your full CV including the parts you rather not mention like the loss of your mother during that experiment so long ago. – Trax said – I can only imagine how hard that must have been. But on a bright note without that experience you would now probably be just yet another boring child protégé on a fast lane to a good yet ultimately not exceptional career. Like those few other under age students you met in Heidelberg and never bothered to be friends with.

That's BS, there are many smart people out there who are socially challenged and they are just as boring. – Asuka argued.

Just being socially challenged is apparently not enough, these people usually haven't given up on society and being high performing in school and/or job brings enough gratification to continue playing it safe. – Trax replied.

So if what you are saying is true, what about you. … or Nadia. – Asuka asked.

About me, … well just like you without knowing my full unredacted CV it's not possible to spot. – Trax said – Before becoming basically a functional immortal I was very, very mortal, I survived my childhood only thanks to a lot of medical intervention. Being brilliant is usually already a burden for a child, as average people really don't appreciate geniuses. And being brilliant in a week body with an early expiration date is substantially more so.

I see… – Asuka said. – … emm, and what about Nadia?

Her body is just perfect, always was. – Trax said. – But when she was a child she lost her entire family. After that she spent about a century in stasis to wake up in a world completely different. She basically lost everything she ever knew overnight.

Trax, … I did not know… – Asuka said.

Well, … its fine, in the end everything played out just fine. – Trax said. – The point is you shouldn't try to be so strict to interesting people you may encounter, especially don't expect their CV to be in any way strait forward. Everything they had to go through is what made them interesting in the first place.

Later that day NERV detected a new angel, the commander and the sub commander are on a business trip to where before the second impact the Antarctic was. Captain Katsuragi is left in charge.

14:15 in the NERV command center, the main screen is showing the angel.

The angel launched in the south Atlantic, near to the equator, and is now currently moving on a middle earth orbit in an altitude of about 20,000 km. – Lieutenant Hyuga said.

To spot this one we did not even need any alien tec. – Misato said – This beasts are getting bold.

Not only that but apparently they are learning from the mistakes of the others. We couldn't detect any signs of that creature before it started its ascension. – Nadia said.

Where is it heading? – Misato asked – let me guess, its coming here, right?

Yup, it's on a trajectory towards Neo Tokio-3. – Nadia said – As far as I can tell we have about 2 hours.

How could that creature get into orbit in the first place? – Lieutenant Aoba asked.

Well it appears it used a similar propulsion technique to the crystalline creature we encountered some time ago, that is it ionizes the air around it and uses magnetic fields to propel it backwards. Although for propulsion at higher altitude it must have resorted to using its own body matter. – Trax said.

I'm wondering how it will try to attack. – Misato asked.

At this point we don't have any data to speculate. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

How about your satellites, any useful data? – Misato asked.

The long range scans don't show any useful details. I have put two satellites on an intercept course they will be in range for an active scan shortly. – Nadia said.

How the hack are we expected to fight that thing?! – Asuka asked. – Our Evas are not equipped for a battle in orbit!

Well, if it really will be a fight in orbit, first of all what for? – Trax said – I mean there is nothing of substantial value there to protect.

So you are saying that it will have to come down and face us? – Asuka said. – What for if it can bombard and destroy us from orbit?!

To what end? – Trax asked – They did not attack the German NERV branch despite unit 02 being located there and active. They must have some objective in coming here besides just fighting EVA's.

Think about it, the crystalline angel that came here with its extremely powerful beam weapon never used it against the Geo Front. – Trax said – Instead it tried to enter it in a rather careful way.

The satellites are now getting in range, initializing active scanning of the target. – Nadia said. – Well it appears the creature has a surprisingly strong AT-Field; most of the active scanners can't get through. Even X-Ray backscattering appears to be hindered. I'll let the second satellite fall behind so I can try to send some scanner beams through the creature.

The creature detached some of its body mass which accelerated towards the second satellite.

I guess it does not like that, impact in 10 seconds. – Nadia said.

The projectile detonated on contact with the satellites shields.

That was quite a blast. – Nadia said. – According to the sensors it was equal to about 10 kiloton TNT.

And your satellite is still operative?! – Ritsuko asked noticing that there still were data coming on from booth units.

Yes, although it's knocked of course too much I can't bring it back in range in time. – Nadia said.

It appears the creature is capable of using its own body mass as a high explosive. – Ritsuko said.

So you mean the whole thing is a gigantic bomb?! – Misato asked.

Working under that assumption, under consideration its entire mass and the size of this fragment, its entire explosive yield can be as high as 5 Mega tons of TNT – Trax said.

Okay,… so what was that about this creature don't wanting to bombard us. – Asuka asked provocatively.

Well for the time being I'll stay at my claim that it does not just want to blow us up. But I will have to think what its ultimate objective may be. – Trax said. – I mean it's possible that this was an improvised response and since the creature previously used its own body mass as fuel basically it was not a far stretch to come up with making a sort of Molotov cocktail.

A Molotov cocktail is a container (usually a bottle) filled with liquid fuel with a source of ignition attached to it (usually a burning rug), it was invented by the Russians as a cheap anti-tank weapon which is quite effective actually.

Due to Electromagnetic interference caused by the creature no communication with the commanders is possible. The Taelons satellites are still operative as they can fall back on photonic links and/or subspace transceivers.

About an half an hour later, the UN tried to use ICBM's equipped with N2 mines to destroy the creature, but they could not get close enough for the explosions to be able to destroy it. The angel attacked everything that came even close.

Damn it! Not even N2 mines are effective against this one! – Misato said.

Trax! Don't you have anything up there to kill that thing?! – Misato asked – I mean you are in charge of the Taelon legacy god dammit!

I'm sorry Misato, but the typical Taelon weapons are precise, like surgical instruments. What you need is however a sledgehammer. – Trax said, that is mostly correct but not fully The Taelons are in possession of a powerful WMD, a so called Quantum Vortex they used this particular weapon covertly during the SI war, i.e. before the Taelons official arrival. It led to the death of 100,000 Humans and led to a quick end to the conflict as the various sides believed the other was responsible for its deployment. (Episode 3x14 "Scorched Earth") This type of weapon should be easily capable of destroying an angel but disclosing the possession of this weapon would be only used as a last resort.

The Angel will impact Neo Tokio-3 in about 1 and a half hour – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

I still don't believe it just wants to explode. – Trax said. Knowing that the angel's objective was to get to Lilith which's body was kept in the deepest sublevel of the NERV complex, made that obvious. But what else could a huge explosive thing that is about to crash into the HQ have in mind…

Mmh… I have an idea. The creature does not want to blow everything up its trying to break in. – Trax said.

Ok falling from orbit to do that sounds somewhat reasonable. – Misato said – But it's a flying bomb.

Well for once it uses its AT-Field to trigger a very volatile decomposition of the molecules constituting its body. So it's a safe or rather precise bomb it only blows up when it really wants to. – Trax said. – But more important: when you try to break into something that is heavily armored just shooting it with a projectile is not the best course of action. Anti-tank weapons don't use brute force in that way; modern munition uses a shaped charge to focus the effect of the explosive energy.

So the angel is not a bomb but a sort of RPG? – Misato said.

In some sense, my current hypothesis is that it implements a special type of shaped charge: a so called explosively formed penetrator. – Trax speculated. – Basically it probably wants to expend most of its body mass to blast a small piece of itself deep into the geo front. The point is it does not want to blow the HQ up it wants to break in.

What for? – Misato asked.

How should I know?! – Trax answered. – But think about it, why are the creatures coming here? To the most fortified installation on the planet. There are far easier ways to get killed. There must be something here what they want.

Also why do the official statements say that if we fail that will be the end of mankind? For what's known it will be at worst another huge crater where once a large island was. – Trax added.

Or another good question: What is here that would be valuable enough such that all the worlds' superpowers are funding and supporting this installation, even the North American Empire (NEA) that in all other matters runs a strict isolationist policy. – Nadia said.

Well, an explosion like the second impact will not even leave the NAE unscathed. And there are no guaranties that it won't be an order of magnitude larger than the last one. And that would be an actual mass extinction event. – Ritsuko said. – It's in every once best interest to prevent that.

Ok, still this implicates that to trigger such an event the Angels would have to break into this installation. – Nadia argued – In the end if they could just detonate that energetically wherever they are this whole operation would have been engineered to be globally deployable instead of creating basically a fortress against these creatures.

To be blond: The key to the third impact must be here and NERV's purpose is defending it, not just killing angels. – Trax concluded.

Ritsuko. Is something here that the Angels want? – Misato asked.

Ritsuko did not say anything.

I need to know! This is essential to the tactics we will employ! – Misato said – If we operate under wrong assumptions only because you decided to stick to the rules, you will have mankind on your conscience!

Follow me. – Ritsuko said leaving the command center towards one of the elevators.

Misato, Trax, Nadia and Asuka followed.

Shinji, you to. Come on! – Misato said.

You think it's wise to bring the pilots? – Ritsuko asked.

They have to fight for us; if anyone they should be first to know for what they are risking their lives. – Misato said.

The elevator ride, 2008 meters, down to central dogma took about 5 minutes. After a short walk the group arrived at a large door, two stories high and twice as wide. The door was divided into 4 parts; in the middle of it was a corporate logo of SEELE. Seven eyes in two rows intersecting a triangle, in the middle an apple surrounded by a snake. A sign next to the security access panel, a card reader and key pad, said: KEEP OUT; MAIN LCL PLANT: PRIMARY GATE; TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT  
Ritsuko swiped her ID card and entered a code. The door segments started to move, once the door was fully opened, the group stepped into a large room. A wide metal catwalk ran down the center, over a large see of an orange liquid. Ritsuko used a control panel on the inner side to turn on the lights, till now there was only emergency light around the door. Now the "rooms" dimensions became apparent, it was about 150m high and had a diameter of at least 1km. In the large see of liquid fluid floated a small destroyer about 76 m long. It looked old, not being serviced since quite some time.

On the opposite side of the room a gigantic red cross was mounted. Something resembling an Evangelion, though without its bionic components, was pinned to it. From where the bolts went into its palms an endless stream of orange liquid poured down into the see below. On the creatures head was a gray metal mask, with seven eyes arranged in two rows on top of a triangle. Tubes ran out of the creature's head into the wall behind. Its lower extremities were missing. In their place was a large bulbous growth extending out below its hips, from out of which sprang dozens of tiny, twitching limbs.

What?! Is that an EVA? No! Impossible! It's the angel from the Southpole... – Misato said shocked.

Not quite. – Ritsuko said – The first arch angel Adam, was destroyed during the second impact. This is another one, Lilith.

What on earth have you done to this poor creature? – Nadia said expressing all the disgust she repress for the last months in order to maintain her cover. – Nothing could justify such a barbaric treatment!

Despite the dramatic appearance, the creature since she was found is entirely dormant. – Ritsuko explained – I can assure you she's not experiencing any discomfort.

Still, how much of this damage have you inflicted?! – Nadia asked – The tubing going into the creatures head is clearly human technology. What is its purpose? Besides how could you even try justifying such a horrific crucifixion treatment!

The cross was already here when we found this place. – Ritsuko said.

Really?! – Nadia asked, not being sure if Ritsuko was telling the truth or just trying to keep appearances. In the end just about 250 years ago this place looked completely different.

Do you believe her? – Nadia thought.

It's hard to tell, the cross arguably looks older than a few decades. – Trax thought – But no way estimating how old it is without some proper examination.

How could Lilith ever allow the humans to do that to her? – Nadia thought.

There is the possibility that this was done by the Neo Atlantis organization, in the last months of the covered war in the 19th century they did very reckless things. – Trax thought – They fought for world domination even if the price for that would have been the end of the world. And they definitely would have the means necessary.

So… what happens when an angel makes contact? – Asuka asked interrupting the silence – Another second impact.

Much worse, the second impact was basically a dud. – Ritsuko said – If the angels manage to trigger a full scale event that will be the end of all live on earth.

If that's true, then why you don't just destroy this thing?! – Misato asked.

Well we tried that approach with Adam; you remember what happened don't you? – Ritsuko said.

The second impact!? – Misato guessed.

Yes. – Ritsuko confirmed. – Still if an angel should ever reach central dogma a self-destruct mechanism will be triggered.

Can't the angels that we fought till now cause a "full scale event" on their own? – Asuka asked.

All the angels descend from Adam. – Ritsuko said. – From what we learned they are not able to initiate the third impact. Only arch angels like Adam or Lilith head these capabilities.

Do you know where these creatures come from? – Trax asked.

No. – Ritsuko said.

Really?! – Trax said. – And the creatures names for example? You must have some insight on their origin.

It's classified. – Ritsuko said.

Ah come on, and I thought we were making progress here. – Trax said. – Knowing why these creatures want to end the world is also a very important tactical insight.

I'm already risking a lot just telling you as much as I did. – Ritsuko said.

Till that point Shinji did not say anything. – Can we please leave this place?

Yea we should return to the command center and devise some strategy against the imminent thread. – Misato said.

15:15 in the command center Misato came up with a ludicrous plan to defeat the angel. In the meantime Neo Tokio-3 is being evacuated.

You can't be serious. – Ritsuko said.

But I am. – Misato said.

This is not a plan its complete madness. – Ritsuko said. – The chances of this working are extremely low and even if it works we could lose the EVA's. As head of the technology division I deem this inacceptable.

A small chance is better than none at all; isn't it? – Misato said.

Be realistic! Find another way instead of relying on a miracle! – Ritsuko said.

I'm not hoping for one; we will create our own miracle. – Misato said.

Captain Katsuragi! – Ritsuko screamed.

I am the ranking officer in charge of the defense operations, it's my decision! More than that; it's my job to destroy the angels at all costs. – Misato replied.

Your job, you mean your grudge! You are willing to risk everything for your vendetta. – Ritsuko said.

Well the angel weighs about 2.5 million tons when it impacts the surface at a typical velocity of 17 km/s it will cause an explosion equal to 30 megatons TNT. – Lieutenant Ibuki shortly recapped the facts. – I'm afraid Dr. Akagi is right even if the AT-Field of the three evangelions would be able to withstand this the damage all-around would be catastrophic.

The main issue is not the creatures mass but its velocity as this goes in quadratic into its kinetic energy. – Nadia said.

Let's just slow it down; losing a factor of 3 in its velocity would already diminish the creature's impact energy by an order of magnitude. And that would be in a somewhat manageable range. – Trax suggested.

And how do you suggest we do that? – Ritsuko asked.

Taelon virtual glass. – Trax said. – That is a very durable force field which is used all round in Taelon structures. For example it makes up significant portions of a ship's hull. Unlike a material barrier it can be projected at a distance and its properties can be customized while in operation.

So what are you suggesting exactly? – Ritsuko asked.

I can use our satellites to deploy multiple layers of this force field to slow down the angel during its descent before it enters the mesosphere from whereon the atmospheric drag should do the rest. – Trax suggested.

What if the angel attacks the satellites? – Ritsuko asked – Also if you want to slow the creature down you need a force large enough to counteract the gravitational pull, I don't believe your satellites can generate that kind of thrust.

These are all valid points; luckily we can work around booth with the same trick. – Trax said – The virtual glass can be perfectly air tight, hence its use in Taelon shuttles and ship hulls. I would project it from a distance of a few hundred to thousand kilometers, well from outside the offensive range of the creature. One layer in front of the creature: a second other one down into the stratosphere. You can imagine it like a gigantic massless cushion safely dissipating the angel's kinetic energy into earth's atmosphere. When I think about it we should be able to do much better than factor 3 even an order of magnitude is feasible with that approach. Than the creature's impact velocity would be about 2 km/s and its kinetic energy down by two orders of magnitude. So only 300 kilotons TNT and that's very well manageable even for one EVA.

Why are you supporting Misatos ridiculous plan!? What about the angel's explosive qualities? You estimated it to be around 5 megatons TNT. – Even three EVAs would probably not withstand that.

Well … – Trax started explaining – An AT-Field is much better at deflecting kinetic energy than radiation. Hence a 5 mega tons N2 Mine will inflict much more damage than an actual bomb made up of 5 million tons of Trinitrotoluene. The angel as far as I observed releases most of the energy as kinetic energy. This, having the objective to use its body mass for propulsion and as a shape charge, is a very useful adaptation. But to fight EVA's not so much. Also detonating while there is an AT-Field between it and its target would most likely dissipate too much energy. So what's left of the angel could not penetrate deep enough into the ground to reach Lilith. You have to keep in mind that given the orbital data we have for the creature its impact angle will be about 45° so the amount of hard rock to penetrate is about 5,5 km.

Anyhow it's my decision, and we are doing it. – Misato said – Get the pilots.

All the pilots have been called to the command center and Misato explained her plan.

But how could we catch something with our EVA's that moves that fast? – Shinji asked.

We are not going to catch it by hand, think about it rather like forming an inverted umbrella with your AT-Field it should span wide enough to easily catch the angel. – Misato explained. – You three will be placed within the projected impact corridor of the angel. Once it's close enough such that we can be sure it can't alter its trajectory to evade the EVAs you will move to the impact point estimated from its most recent trajectory.

But it weighs millions of tons how could we ever support something that heavy? – Shinji asked.

Ah that's easy, dummy, when you deploy your AT-Field your EVA does not have to oppose the impact force onto the field, the AT-Field deflects it. – Asuka explained.

Anyhow; the plan sounds awfully speculative if you ask me. – Asuka said. – What if this fails?

Well, as we learned there is a contingency plan that will just blow japan out of the pacific, so don't worry mankind is safe eider way. – Trax said.

Besides, we don't have any other options. – Misato said.

I should go out alone; the others will only be in my way. If someone can save mankind than me! – Asuka said.

That's not a close combat situation; you can't do that on your own. – Misato said.

So you don't trust in my skills as an EVA pilot?! – Asuka said.

That's not it. None of you can do it on your own it's a team play. – Misato said.

Once we hold it, how do we destroy it? – Rei asked.

The EVA that caught the angel continues to hold it with its AT-Field, another uses it's AT-Field to locally erode the angels one. And the third unit can breach through and try to reach the core. – Misato explained.

16:02 the EVA units have been deployed and the satellites rerouted.

16:14 the Angel has begun its descent.

Activating virtual glass barrier. – Trax said.

A few minutes later the angel made contact with the virtual glass.

The barrier is holding nicely. We should be able to slow it down as expected. – Trax said.

16:30 in the command center

The angel has fallen already by about 5000 km the deceleration imposed by the virtual glass barrier keeps constant at about -1.05m/s. – Trax said. – That should delay the impact from 16:38 to about 17:49.

I still think we should have tried to deflect the angel into the ocean. – Ritsuko said, recapping a suggestion she made earlier.

The creature is not a falling stone it has propulsion capabilities. If it notices that it is wearing of course it may try to compensate or even fallback and regain altitude for a second attempt. The risk that we than can't catch up with it is too large. – Trax said.

Besides we have to destroy it, it is capable of surviving the crash so when it falls into the ocean it will just attack us again at a later time. – Misato added.

16:45 in the command center

The angel is now moving at an altitude of about 10000 km, half way down; its velocity is down to 6km/s – Trax said

This Taelon virtual glass is amazing I'm wondering if we could use it as a weapon or at least as additional protection for the EVA's – Misato speculated.

Well, when projecting it you usually need the emitters to be spread around the outer perimeter. – Nadia said. – Making some kind of medieval shield should be reasonably simple.

Weaponizing it may be however very challenging; normally you can only project the fields such that you will get rather nice rounded edges. The field gradients necessary to create a sharp edge exceed our technical capabilities. – Nadia said.

We could research the possibility of entangling multiple emitters to create coherent fields, this way we could use holographic methods to generate arbitrary shapes. – Trax speculated

The virtual glass could also be simply used to trap an angel. That could come in handy. – Trax added.

17:30 in the command center coms to the EVA units are open.

The creature is now moving at an altitude of about 2000 km, at a velocity of 3.2km/s; it will impact in about 16 minutes. – Trax said.

I'm calculating the optimal positions to place the EVA's for a successful intercept attempt – Nadia said.

On the main screen a map of the terrain next to Neo-Tokio 3 appeared. – Assuming that the angel wants to penetrate into central dogma the creature is likely to impact somewhere here. – Nadia highlighted an about 5 km long and 1.5 km wide stripe in the woods next to the city. Given an Evangelion's top speed of 150 m/s we should position the units at this spots. – 3 positions along the stripe have been shown. One in the center and the two others at the front and back. This way we can reliably cover the most ground.

Maya, is the MAGI system confirming that projections? – Misato asked.

Given the angels current trajectory and assuming its target is indeed central dogma that looks about right – Maya confirmed.

Ok, pilots, you got that? – Misato asked. – Also, as explained earlier when intercepting the angel you have to rely on the tactical displays. The beast is much too fast to look for it.

The pilots confirmed.

Asuka, you will be positioned at the very front, Shinji in the middle and rei last. – Misato ordered.

17:40 The evangelions arrived at the designated positions and are preparing to intercept the angel.

The angel has now entered the thermosphere; its velocity is down to 2.5km/s; it will impact in about 6 minutes.

Pilots, prepare yourself. – Misato said over the coms

At 17:46 the angel has entered the mesosphere with a velocity of 2.2km/s.

All units go! – Misato screamed over the coms.

The three EVAs sprinted towards the position projected, and in real time corrected, by the MAGI system. Unit 01 was almost spot-on.

I'm deactivating the virtual glass barrier. – Trax said – 35 seconds till impact, projected impact velocity 2.5 m/s.

Deploying AT-Field – Shinji said over the coms.

AT-Field in place, T-20 sec. – Lieutenant Ibuki said. – T-10 sec… impact in 5 seconds.

Wait for me damn it, I'm almost there! – Asuka screamed over the coms.

The creature made contact with the AT field of Unit 01, the ground in the HQ trembled. The resulting earthquake through unit 00 to the ground; however since units 02 and 00 ware already beneath the AT field of unit 01 they don't experienced any additional damage.

That was about 0.5 megatons of TNT equivalent. – Trax said.

Status?! – Misatos screamed.

AT-Field of unit 01 is holding. – Maya reported.

The shock wave passed over the city, the surface damage is minimal, no damage to the buildings. – Lieutenant Hyuga reported.

From the center of the angel, directly above unit 01, a figure started to grow. It quickly assumed a well-defined shape; it looked like a skinny humanoid with a long bony mask on its head, about the size of an EVA. The creature was attached below its waistline to the rest of the angel, its core glowing in the middle of its belly. It pressed its thin bony fingers down through unit 01's AT-Field.

Hurry up Asuka! – Shinji screamed over the coms.

The angel's arms broke through, unit 01 tried to stop the angel with its own hands. The figure pressed its arms down on the Eva's hands breaking its fingers in the process. Just when unit 02 arrived at the scene. Unit 02 swiftly broke through the creatures AT field. Than it grabbed a prog-knife and attempted to break the core. However in that instance the creatures AT-Field closed again and unit 02 was thrown to the ground. Unit 01 wen down on one knee continuing to push against the angel.

Asuka! Help me! – Shinji screamed over the coms.

Can we dial down the sensory input from the EVA? – Misato asked, worried about Units 01 pilots wellbeing.

No, if we do that it may weaken the AT-Field. – Ritsuko said.

Just hang on, Shinji! Keep in mind it's not your real fingers. – Misato said over the coms.

Unit 02 tried to attack the angel again but the result was the same. Maintaining the breach in the creatures AT-Field and attacking it at the same time seamed challenging to say the least.

Verdammter schweinehund! – Asuka swear in german.

Asuka, stand down, wait for unit 00. – Misato ordered.

Rei hurry up! – Misato screamed over the coms.

Asuka ignored the order. However a third attempt was just as futile as the previous two.

Scheiße verdammte, blödes Mistvieh. – Asuka continued swearing.

Than finally unit 00 arrived and proceeded with breaching the angel's At-Field. Now unit 02 could assault the core without any obstacles. Using the prog-knife it was easy to crack the red glowing orb in two. In that instance the angel collapsed and the bony figure dissolved into a read viscous liquid.

Geschaft! – Asuka said.

Asuka, Rei! Use your EVA's AT-Fields to support Unit 01 the thing is going to blow. – Nadia screamed over the coms.

A few seconds later a 4 megaton explosion shook the earth.

Status report? – Misato screamed.

Receiving telemetry from all three EVA's – Lieutenant Ibuki said – No major damage, except units 01 hands and forearms.

What's with the city? – Misato asked.

Significant damage to the top layers but the core structure held up quite well. – Lieutenant Hyuga reported. – We may have problems bringing some of the buildings back to the surface without some repairs on the elevator systems though.

Ok, bring the EVA's back in. – Misato ordered.

What's the status of the satellite communication? – Ritsuko asked.

The interferences are gone; we should be able to reach the commanders. – Aoba said.

Send a full report as soon as we have a connection. – Ritsuko ordered.

18:30 the EVA's have been brought back to the HQ and many of the buildings have been elevated back to the surface, including the block where our protagonists live.

An hour later at the balcony of Trax's and Nadia's apartment, Asuka is visiting.

Well, that was it with a nice view. – Trax Said. – Now it looks like in some 20th century post-apocalyptic movie.

I could have died out there you know. – Asuka said. – I couldn't defeat this beast on my own.

That wasn't the first time you have been in serious danger. – Nadia said.

This time it was different, I was powerless against that thing, I was helpless on my own. – Asuka said. – And if that n00b would have let go we would be all gone.

You don't want to know how often man kind's fate already hung by a tread in the hands of some average bloke. – Trax said – In this incident at least some skilled people were around to help him.

But that's exactly the point, I couldn't! Not on my own. – Asuka screamed. – I always was self-reliant, but now it wasn't enough! I gave my best and it wasn't enough!

Don't be so hard on you Asuka. – Nadia said

No matter how good you are as a pilot you can't make the machine exceed its physical capabilities. – Trax added.

How the heck can you be so casual about it?! – Asuka asked – If unit 00 wouldn't have come in time to help, we would all be dead now, all people on the planet would be dead!

But they are not! And that is what counts in the end. – Nadia said.

Well, this time… – Asuka said – But what about the next angel, and the one after it and another and another…

We are pretty resilient we will find a way to survive, even an end of this world, we always do. – Trax said.

For you it's easy to don't give a damn,… the hack knows how old you are, and you just claimed you can survive the end of the world,… – Asuka said – But if I fail that that was it. I'll miss out on so many things I wanted to do. And to top that off the end of the world will be my fault!

Don't worry we won't let that happen. – Trax said.

What is happening is not your fault you have not set this events in motion. – Nadia said – All this was set in motion long before you were even born. You can do your best to try to stop it, so will we to.

What if my best is not enough? What if the next angel will be unstoppable? – Asuka said.

If it's unstoppable why would you give yourself the fault for failing? – Trax asked – I mean if it truly is unstoppable that that's it.

Why are you piloting unit 02? – Nadia asked – Do you do it for fun? Because you have been told to?

Because I want to, unit 02 was my mother's project and now it's my responsibility; no one else can pilot it as good as me. – Asuka said.

So that's it than you give your best and if that's not enough anyone else would have also failed. – Nadia said – At least mankind gave its survival the best chances possible.

Hmm…. I suppose so – Asuka said – Still what about dying young and missing out on live.

Well, if dying young is a realistic possibility I guess it's better to live fast. – Trax said.

You really don't give a Fu**, don't you? – Asuka asked.

Well there is an old saying: "Give me the strength to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I can't change, and the wisdom to know the difference.", the last part is probably the most important. – Trax said – I mean if you can't change it why spend time to be stressed out about it.

But, you would probably also say that there isn't a thing you can't change. – Asuka said.

Hehe, it seems you got to know me quite well in these last few months. – Trax said smirking.

Yea you seem rather to operate based on the saying: "Everyone knew it was impossible to do. Then one day someone came who did not know that, and he did it." – Asuka said.

Well it worked for me all these centuries so I'll stick to it. – Trax replied

I don't what to go home, you know… I don't want to be alone anymore – Asuka said after a longer pause.

Than stay here tonight – Nadia said. – We have enough room.


	15. Assault from the interdimension (16)

After the fight with the last angel Misato got promoted to the rank of Major.

The next day, an angel appeared levitating above Neo Tokio-3; it looks like a large black sphere with circular white lines on its surface.

Shortly thereafter in the NERV command center, Misato entered.

Evacuation of the western districts completed in 5 minutes. – An operator said.

The target is moving with 2.5 km/h – Another operator said.

Where did this thing come from?! – Misato asked.

It just appeared out of nowhere above the city. – Lieutenant Hyuga said.

How is that possible? – Misato asked.

I don't know. – The Lieutenant answered.

Where are Trax and Nadia? – Misato said.

On their way they will be here any minute. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

They should grant us access to their satellite network. – Ritsuko said. – As it stands they are a bottleneck in this operation.

It's funny that it's you to say that. – Misato said – You kept us for months in the dark about NERV's purpose.

Trax and Nadia entered.

You are late, so what can you tell us about the new threat? – Major Katsuragi asked.

Well we've been reviewing the satellite recordings; it appears the creature can bend the normal space time. We found recordings of space time distortions indicating that the creature originated some ware in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. – Nadia said.

How could it evade detection? – Ritsuko asked.

The AI's we use to evaluate the satellite data did not flag the observed space time distortions as significant, the creature apparently did not move on any discernable course that would indicate its target is Neo-Tokio 3. – Nadia said – Basically it was moving all-around the place and once it arrived here it manifested in our space time.

Does that mean the angel can enter central dogma at will?! – Misato asked

We can't exclude this possibility at that time. – Nadia said.

We have dispatched a few interdimensional probes to scan the creature and map the space time around the city, but that will take some time. – Trax said.

We can't risk waiting, if the angel has such capabilities we have to take action ASAP. – Misato said. – Send the EVA's to the surface.

The three units arrived outside of the creature's line of sight. Unit 00 with a sniper rifle, unit 01 with a "hand" gun, and unit 02 with a huge battle ax.

Ok listen up. – Misato said over the coms. – Be careful, we don't know the creatures offensive capabilities.

I think that the angel may be able to see in all directions. – Ritsuko said.

Shinji you will distract the angel, while Rei tries to snipe it. – Misato said. – Asuka you are backup.

Why the hack should they have the first shot?! – Asuka screamed over the coms.

Well, this battle ax you picked may be impressive but it's not very useful for fight at a distance. – Misato replied.

Scheiß! – Asuka cursed in German.

Unit 00 got in position and took aim. Unit 01 approached the angel keeping cover. Once the units were in position Misato ordered to start the attack. Shinji took aim at the angel with his EVA's "hand" gun and fired. In that instance the sphere became completely black. The bullets did not appear to have hit anything; they just disappeared into a dark endless void.

Huh? – Shinji said over the coms.

In that instance the black sphere collapsed into a thin disk while expanding its radius from 45m to over 350m. Now unit 01 was underneath the phenomenon.

Shinji, get out of there! – Misato screamed over the coms.

But it was too late the black disk fell down to the ground swallowing the buildings and unit 01. It stopped only once it made contact with the first armor layer of the geo front.

Status of unit 01 – Misato asked.

The telemetry feed is gone. – Lieutenant Ibuki reported.

Shinji, no. – Misato said, with a worried tone of voice.

What's the status of the angel? – Ritsuko asked.

The armor plate seems to have stopped his progress. – Lieutenant Aoba reported. The structural sensors report however an incredible pull, it's only a matter of time until it breaks.

Trax, what the heck is this thing? – Misato asked.

Well it appears the angel is using its AT-Field to manipulate space time and creating a pocket dimension in which it is hiding itself. – Trax said. – What we see is the event horizon.

So you are saying unit 01 has not vanished but is now inside this space bubble together with the angel? – Misato asked.

Yes it appears so. – Trax said. – Although until I get more data I can't tell in what condition.

If the angel is capable of banding space time, what is holding it back from creating a worm whole directly to terminal dogma? – Ritsuko asked.

The creation of an Einstein-Rosen bridge is far more difficult that just creating a space pocket. – Trax said.

To create a space pocket you only need to change the topology of the space time. When you are attempting to create a bridge, you however need to change its geometry in a discontinuous way and that requires far more energy and completely other techniques. Another issue is also that when you try to create a bridge you need to somehow pinpoint where the exit should be. – Trax explained further.

It's possible that it can't target a location precisely enough and materializing in solid rock might be fatal for it. Typical bridge devices require 2 gateways one on each end. – Nadia added.

You mean like with Taelon portals – Ritsuko asked – but how does standalone ships do that then?

The interdimensional drive is something different; imagine our world being the surface of a crumbled sheet of paper. When you want to go from one point on the sheet to another normally you move on the sheets surface, like an ant, but if you can use the 3rd dimension you can take a shortcut like a fly. You don't change the geometry of the space time you don't even bend it you just move in dimensions which are normally not accessible to move in. –Trax said.

So the Taelon drives allow you to move freely in all 26 dimensions known to the Taelon physics? – Ritsuko asked further – Does that mean that you can also move in time?

Well, in all that are not coiled up on a microscopic scale. About time, it's just yet another dimension but it behaves different from the rest. You can imagine it like a stream carrying everything with it. You can easily swim ahead, a.k.a. go further into the future, with little to no energy expenditure. So your very own time will be running much slower than it runs for all others. For an outside observer it can even look like you are frozen in time. But moving back is basically impossible. When you picture every moment in time being a position on the shore. You can try to swim against the stream and you will be able to slow down the passing of time. So the time in your reference frame will be running faster than the time for all others. The more energy you put into the faster will your own time run. So for an outside observer you can grow old and die in seconds. The energy required increases exponentially the closer you approach to the speed of the time stream. To reach the speed of time a.k.a. from your standpoint freeze the entire universe in time you would need exactly infinite energy. And that you can't do. Aside of that very fundamental issue. Also when you think about it you get other singularity issues here. To actually get to the past you would need to wait longer than forever. – Trax explained.

Actually that's quite peculiar you could go ahead in time to see the end of the universe but you won't be able to return and tell anyone about it. – Nadia added.

Anyhow, what is the angel doing? – Misato asked.

Well it appears its mode of attack is quite blunt it is simply swallowing everything into its space pocket. – Trax said. – The buildings and soil were easy, but the armored plate is a solid object that is too big to swallow. Given the structural integrity readings I would guess it's attempting to break out a small enough chunk to consume. Than it will proceed to the next etc….

So basically it tries to take a bite out of the geo front. – Misato said.

Yup, pretty much yes. – Trax said.

20 minutes later in the command center. Commander Ikari arrived and was briefed about the situation.

Our probes finished a first preliminary scan of the space pocket the creature created. – Trax said. – It appears to be a section of three dimensional space, folded together in a 6 dimensional hyperspace. The total 3 dimensional volume is about 100 billion cubic kilometers.

Gravimetric scans showed the total contained mass to be a few hundred million tons. – Nadia said – From what I can tell most of that appears to be plain sea water. The thing probably swallowed a lot of stuff during its existence.

We have been able to pinpoint a large biomass of about 3 million tons. We think it's the angel. – Nadia added

We haven't noticed anything that would hint the creature is capable of creating Einstein-Rosen bridges. – Trax said. – Also the creature appears to move exclusively within the 3 dimensional space time, so it probably also doesn't have the ability to move in higher dimensions.

So what you are saying is that it can't enter central dogma other than chewing its way through to it? – Misato said.

Yes, that is our assessment of the situation. – Nadia replied.

How long till it breaches through all the armor plating? – Misato asked.

We estimate it to be about 3 days. – Lieutenant Aoba said.

What about unit 01? – The commander asked.

We are working on locating it. – Trax said.

Is there a way to communicate? – The commander asked.

If you would have left the subspace transceiver in than there would be. – Trax said – But as it stands no.

How can we fight this angel? – Asuka asked. – If inside there is just more space than we could just jump in and finish it.

Nope, that will most certainly fail. – Trax said – The space time inside is extremely convoluted, like a maze, just that instead of walls you have vast endless voids. By changing the space time topology the creature creates a gravitational pull keeping the matter contained to its "corridors". And to make it more challenging the creature can change the layout at will.

It is not possible to cross a maze which is continuously changing itself. – Rei said.

So what are we going to do? – Asuka asked.

Working on that. – Trax said – Possibly we could close the event horizon. Since the angel can do only topological changes to the space time, it won't be able to get out.

And what about Shinji? – Misato asked. – We can't live him in there.

Well we would have dealt with the imminent threat and we could devise a rescue plan. – Nadia said.

If you locate unit 01 can you retrieve it using one of your ships? – Misato asked.

Unfortunately the only Taelon ship we have at our disposal that would be up to the task is the Taelon mothership. And that we simply can't risk. Endangering an entire civilization to save a single live is not an option. – Trax said.

About an hour later, its 19:12, Misato and Ritsuko are standing on an observation platform with a clear sight on the angel's event horizon.

I came up with a plan to get unit 01 back. – Ritsuko said.

We will throw about a hundred N2 mines into the event horizon, each with a yield of 10 MT. That should be enough to destroy the angel or at least wound it. – Ritsuko said. – We think than then the space pocket will collapse.

What kind of rescue plan is that?! – Misato said – You know how unit 01 will be looking after that.

The primary aim of the operation is to remove the EVA from the influence of the angel, even if it should get damaged. – Ritsuko said.

What about Shinji?! – Misato asked.

The life of the pilot is not a priority. – Ritsuko said.

Misato slapped Ritsuko.

If Shinji dyes it's your fault, it I may remind you. – Ritsuko said.

You and the commander seem to be very eager to get unit 01 back, what's so special about it? – Misato asked.

You've already got all information's you need. – Ritsuko said.

Bullshit! – Misato replied.

Misato went to Trax's lab.

Do you know what Ritsuko is planning? – Misato asked.

We got the memo. – Trax said. – imho. The plan will fail. The space to cover inside is too vast, it's like trying to shoot a fly with birdshot, from a kilometer away. If you are lucky and hit it dead center you win, but most likely you will miss completely. Also they will most likely miss unit 01 to, so don't worry too much.

Have you tolled the commanders?! – Misato asked.

Yes. – Trax answered – We have 4 hours and 39 minutes to come up with an alternative.

Why the hassle? We have days before the creature breaches the geo front. – Misato asked.

Well apparently the commander is worried what the angel could do with unit 01. – Nadia said.

And? Do you have a plan? – Misato asked.

Well yes, kind of. – Trax said – We could equip units 00 and 02 with an interdimensional drive from one of our shuttles. This way they wouldn't have to go through the "space maze" but could instead move freely to their targets.

That sounds not so bad. And have you located unit 01. – Misato asked – Yes kind of, it's moving around as the space time topology changes, but we can track it.

It appears to be operative. – Nadia said.

Thank god. – Misato replied.

You are welcome. – Nadia said smirking.

You are sometimes so arrogant you know? – Misato said. – Anyhow have you suggested your plan to the commanders?

Yes, but they have some reservations. – Trax said. – We have to come up with a navigation interface that would be comprehensible to someone who can only think in three dimensions.

How does that work with your shuttles, I know in the past there were human pilots. – Misato asked.

Yea, but their job was only to get from one point in the mostly flat 3 dimensional space to another. This can be managed quite nicely with assistance systems. The task here is however to navigate in a space which is extremely convoluted, without understanding the underlying 6 dimensional structure that's challenging to say the least. – Trax explained

There is a cheap workaround; we would be operating the interdimensional drives remotely, not the EVA pilots. This way they could focus on fighting the angel in 3d while we would move them around. – Nadia said

That sounds so unpractical, how the heck should that work? – Misato asked.

Well kind of like in that video you send around some weeks ago where a cat was hunting insects, while it's human was tasked with carrying it and bringing it in range, as the cat couldn't' jump so far up the walls. – Nadia said

Hmm… ok, I see what you mean. – Misato said.

Misato went to the commanders to argue for Trax's plan.

The issue is not just the practicality of the navigation but the fact that we would give those two control over the EVA units. – Gendo argued.

To put it bluntly of we allow putting an interdimensional drive onto them, they could bring the units in their possession and we would have no means of ever retrieving them. – Fuyutsuki added.

But why would they do that, haven't they proved already that they are on our side? – Misato argued. – Besides you could demand they won't live terminal dogma during the operation.

And that would help exactly how? – Gendo replied – They always emphasized that if push comes to shove we can't harm or confine them.

But, Dr. Akagi's plan is a Hail Mary, the chances of success are 1/1000 at best. – Misato argued. – What about sending just one unit to retrieve unit 01?

Than they would still have the opportunity to bring two EVA's under their control. – Fuyutsuki Replied.

Major, even if they can design an interface allowing one of our pilots to maneuver an EVA in the interdimension. Our technicians don't understand the systems well enough to ensure they don't have a remote access backdoor. – Fuyutsuki said.

Ok, but you assume they want an intact EVA, so equip the unit you send to get Shinji, with a self-destruct mechanism, a dead man switch which triggers when the pilot dyes or the entry plug gets forcefully removed. – Misato said. – Than they wouldn't have the opportunity to get an intact EVA.

Not the unit we send but they could still get unit 01. – Fuyutsuki argued.

I will take your advice under consideration, now leave. – Gendo ordered.

In the meantime in a simulation setup for EVA pilot training.

With your right hand you can control the 6 degrees of freedom in the normal space (i.e. 3 rotation and 3 translation axis), with your left hand you control the 6 additional degrees of freedom. – Nadia explained – So you can move around in all dimensions within the simulation. The option key C on your right hand control, triggers the assistance system to move you to normal space. For now, ignore the t axis and the rotations in the hyperspace.

Ok, what about the view? – Asuka asked – Photons shouldn't move outside the normal space time, right?

Well they will move within they're 3 dimensional space but when this space is close enough to another one particles can start interacting. – Trax explained – Imagine two planes with 2 dimensional things on them, if the two planes intersect they can interact at the line of intersection. Also when you push 2 planes close enough to each other some interactions will become possible at the areas of sufficient proximity.

So how can I keep track of the angel when I'm out of the normal space? – Asuka asked. – Can I just move my 3D frame close enough to the normal space and observe it using light?

That would be possible, but I would strongly advice against it. As than basically stuff that floats around where you EVA is will phase through it and may cause significant damage. – Trax explained. – When transiting from the interdimension to the normal space the drive generates a strong force to create an absolute vacuum large enough to accommodate the vehicle.

We will be using data from the gravimetric sensors, these give you basically projections of density distribution, but with tomography algorithms we can construct a full n dimensional image. – Nadia said. – You can than select the view you prefer, you can choose 2 and 3 dimensional projections from the n dimensional image. The projections can be made from the full data set, or only from the surfaces facing the point of gaze. You can also select a composite view where multiple projections are shown side by side.

Ok, sounds simple enough, can we start the simulation now? – Asuka asked.

Sure knock yourself out. – Trax said and activated the simulation.

Misato entered some time later.

How is she doing? – Misato asked.

Surprisingly well, I have to admit I wouldn't think that's possible for an unmodified human. – Trax said.

I'm not normal! I'm exceptional. – Asuka screamed over the coms.

How did the talks to the commanders go? – Trax asked.

Not so well, Ikari said he will take my advice under consideration. – Misato said.

That's irritating; I think I need some fresh air, care to join? – Trax asked.

Outside the HQ in the Geo Front, Misato removed the battery from her cell.

You know there is a way to force the commanders hand… – Trax said.

What do you mean? – Misato asked.

Your boyfriend, this Kaji, was working for the UN before joining NERV. – Trax said

He's not my boyfriend anymore. – Misato interrupted.

Anyhow, if he would leek some documents to his old employer that would suggest that some of the N2 mines could get ejected from the event horizon before they blow, I could imagine very well that the UN will decline Gendos request for the mines. – Trax said. – I mean having a few dozen 10 MT devices going off possibly anywhere around japan is not a scenario they would feel comfortable with. Some could get as far as China and well they have a veto vote in the UN so that may be already enough.

How realistic is that? – Misato asked.

Well the angel is deforming also the time dimension so inside its space pocket significant time dilatation effects can occur. – Trax said – In any case the necessary assessments can be manufactured, just "accidently" loose some 0 at the right point and you get a 10% chance for that actually happening.

I don't feel good about that, in the end its treason. – Misatos said.

That's bollox, NERV is an organization under civil legislation; it's just a breach of contractual obligations, nothing more. – Trax argued.

Besides that's our only reliable option to save Shinji. – Trax added.

Later in the simulation control room.

Ok, Asuka that was em… exceptional. – Nadia said. – Let's try something more difficult. I will unlock the t axis, for it there are some additional assistance systems controlled by the A, B and C option keys at you left hand control. When option B is active it makes your EVA sync to the time axis of the angel. So it can't slow down its own timeframe relative to yours. With the option A you can slow down your EVA's time frame with option key C you can speed it up with a short press, or reset it to normal with a long hold.

So basically I can freeze the angel in time? – Asuka said – That's awesome, will make it really easy to kill it.

Well not quite, always keep the energy conservation in mind. In this particular case it leads to your EVA inertial mass being invers proportional to the square of the acceleration factor of its timeframe. – Trax explained

Authors note: all this thinking about how the world works if one move in higher dimensions is really fun but also quite confusing. For example in normal space if something moves with double the speed its kinetic energy is increased by a factor of 4. But how does that work if the faster movement is only an illusion caused by a slowed down flow of time. Let's imagine two balls like in a simplified newton's cradle. One ball moves and the other is at rest; when the first one it strikes the second one, it stops moving and the second one moves, etc…. Now, we have energy conservation, the inertial mass of the first ball is m1 and the other one m2, the velocity of the second ball is v, the first ball moves in an accelerated timeframe by 2, so its velocity appears to be w = 2v. Now if we set the kinetic energy equations for booth balls to be equal, we see that the inertial mass of our "interdimensional" ball appears to be m1/4. So the inertial mass of our interdimensional EVA is invers proportional to the square of the acceleration factor of its timeframe.

Right, mist. – Asuka said, throwing in a German curse.

So starting the simulation. – Nadia said.

About two hours before the intended N2 mine drop in the commander's office, Gendo smashed the telephone earpiece into its holder.

This damn bureaucrats they denied us the use of the N2 mines. – Gendo said.

That's disconcerting. – Fuyutsuki said – Earlier they were all for it.

We will deal with that later, now we have to take care of the imminent threat. – Gendo said.

Do you intent to allow the Taelon plan? – Fuyutsuki asked.

Again it appears we have no other option. – Gendo said.

That starts becoming a pattern. – Fuyutsuki concluded.

Gendo and Dr. Akagi entered the simulation control room some time later.

I was informed that our pilot is doing well. – Gendo said. – We decided to try the course of action you suggested, with some modifications though.

We won't be sending both units out, that is too risky, only unit 02. – Dr. Akagi said.

I'll instruct Vladimir and the other technicians how to install the new equipment I'll be bringing in from the mothership. – Trax said.

There will be some more modifications needed. – Ritsuko said. – We can't risk another EVA falling into the hands of this angel, so we will add a self-destruct mechanism.

We generated a somewhat detailed model of the creature. – Nadia said. – It appears to look somewhat like an armadillo. It rolls up into a ball, like we saw when it was hovering over the city. Identifying its offensive capabilities is difficult with the limited scans we have.

Why don't you move one of the probes into normal space and scan it properly? – Misato asked.

Well, we could do that easily, but I think the creature considers its space pocket a safe place, if we show it how vulnerable it really is in there it may trigger a reaction we don't want like attacking unit 01. – Nadia explained.

When will you be ready to deploy unit 02? – Gendo asked.

About 3 to 4 hours. – Trax said – But really the more time we have for training and further scans the better. We are tracking unit 01 and it does not appear the angel is interested in it at all.

Still, we will act as soon as possible. – Gendo ordered. – The priority is to retrieve unit 01 fighting the angel is for the time being secondary.

Later in the simulation control room.

Asuka, given how well you managed the additional dimensions, I would suggest we swap the t axis out for something more useful. – Trax said – The assistance systems for the t axis should be enough anyhow.

You mean a 7th dimension, one the angel can't handle? – Asuka said.

Yup, exactly, given how convoluted the space pocket is, that may come in really handy. – Trax said.

The technicians finished installing the interdimensional drive on unit 02 as expected in about 3 hours. The deployment is scheduled for 18:07 i.e. in about 20 minutes. Asuka is standing on the catwalk installed on top of the shoulder mounts in units 02 cage. Nadia comes in.

Are you ready? – Nadia asked.

They made my EVA into a bomb. – Asuka said – If I can't return to base in under two hours it will blow.

Can't you disable it if you want? – Nadia asked.

Nope, it's a standalone device not wired into anything, directly at the core. – Asuka said.

I see, well than we just have to make sure you will come back in time. – Nadia said

And what if that fails? – Asuka asked.

Than you still have the option to eject the entry plug. It has a standalone life support system. – Nadia said. – Don't worry we will get you back.

How? – Asuka asked.

We will find a way, we can move the heavens and earth if necessary. – Nadia said and smiled

18:30 start of the rescue mission for unit 01. Nadia is operating the interdimensional probes which observe the angel and unit 01, Trax is monitoring the interdimensional drive of unit 02.

All EVA systems are nominal and the subspace link also appears to be working. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

Power supply and interdimensional drive operating within normal parameters. – Trax said.

A rendered image of the 3 dimensional inside of the space pocket appeared on the main screen, in this particular visualization the void areas are represented as walls and also compressed, such that the "flat" areas are dominant. So the whole thing looks kind of like the insight of an ant hill.

Real-time gravimetric imaging is operational. – Nadia said.

So let's proceed. – Gendo said. – Dr. Akagi start the countdown. Major Katsuragi begin the operation.

Ok, Asuka you ready? – Misato asked.

Always! – Asuka replied over the coms.

Ok, EVA unit 02 start, Lieutenant Hyuga bring it to the Geo-Front. – Misato ordered.

As soon as the EVA reached the surface, Asuka engaged the interdimensional drive.

Moving in position. – Asuka reported over the coms while bringing her EVA as close to unit 01's position as possible. – I bet the n00b will freak out!

As soon as you are in the same 3 dimensional space we will be able to use your EVA as proxy to establish communication. – Ritsuko said.

When you are in the interdimension please try not to let go of unit 01 even if Shinji should lash out. If the unit gets out of control and accidently crosses one of the 3d hyperplanes it may get severely damaged by debris. – Trax said.

Yea, yea I got that already! – Asuka answered. – So, going in in 3, 2, …

Wait, Asuka – Misato said – I have an idea, Nadia, can we use one of the interdimensional probes as a com proxy if you move it into the space pocket?

Yes, but as said the angel may react in an unpredictable way. – Nadia said.

You said there are billions over billions tons of stuff in there; I bet it won't notice a few hundred kilos. – Misato said.

Well it's your responsibility. – Nadia said.

Misato thought for a second or two. – Lets risk it. Nadia, monitor the angel and report to unit 02, Asuka if anything happens grab unit 01.

Comlink ready. – Nadia said.

Establishing communication. – Lieutenant Ibuki said. – The EVA is not damaged; the pilot appears to be asleep.

Stupid Shinji how can he sleep in such a situation. – Asuka said over the coms, waking him up.

Asuka, is that you? – Shinji asked with a sleepy voice.

Yea, Idiot! I came to rescue you. – Asuka said.

Is the angel doing something? – Misato asked.

No, it seems it's oblivious to the breach. – Nadia said.

Listen up Shinji, Asuka will grab your EVA and pull it into the interdimension. Don't frighten and don't fight it. – Misato said.

Yea, just hold still and don't do anything, the cavalry is coming. – Asuka said.

Unit 02 crossed into the insight of the space pocket, grabbed unit 01 and dived back into the interdimension. Shortly thereafter the ground in the Geo Front shook.

What was that? – Misato asked.

It appears the angel noticed us this time. – Nadia said.

Unit 02 is on its way back to the Geo Front, no problems there. – Trax said.

What is it doing? – Misato asked.

It increased the pull on the armor plate by an order of magnitude and broke through it. – Lieutenant Aoba said. – The next one is holding for now, but at this rate it will breach into the Geo Front in a matter of hours.

Well than I'll just have to finish it off quickly. – Asuka said over the coms.

Unit 02 together with unit 01 reached the Geo Front. Unit 01 was being brought back to its cage, while Asuka went back to fight the angel. Unit 02 grabbed a large container with various weaponry, which it will leave in the interdimension for quick access.

Now let's see how well this battle ax works against a 90m large angel. – Asuka said over the coms. When crossing back into the angels space pocket.

She appeared directly in front of the creature and hit it with all units 02 force. Even though the angel's body didn't seem to be protected by an AT Field, the ax did not penetrate its hard outer shell. A few more blows did not manage to leave an impression eider.

Mist. – Asuka cursed. – That thing is tough.

Asuka tossed the ax and grabbed her EVA's assault rifle, being packed with explosive armor piercing munition that must leave at least a dent.

The angel evaded the shots with ease and tried to ram unit 02.

Drecks Mist verfluchter! – Asuka cursed while in turn evading the angels attack. – Is that stupid thing just a giant wrecking ball or what?!

Unit 02 dropped back into the interdimension.

Let's see if that beast can withstand a prog knife – Asuka said while dropping out of the interdimension as close to the angel as possible ramming the knife deep into the sphere. The angel roared, well kind of the insights of the space pocket tremored. The creature unrolled and from the gap that opened thin tentacles emerged, covered in sharp thorns. Trying to get hold of unit 02, but Asuka was to fast her EVA got back in the interdimension.

So that's how you open this thing. – Asuka said over the coms.

The creature engulfed itself in a dens ball of tentacles.

Be careful Asuka. – Nadia said. – Apparently the angel noticed you can attack it from any direction.

Well, let's see if I can outsmart it. – Asuka said, she accelerated her timeframe as much as possible with the available energy budget and crossed into the normal space, shooting a few rounds into the opening in the angel's armor. The angel however just rotated a bit and the rounds impacted its hard shell.

Scheiß – Asuka cursed, she noticed the rounds slowed down a lot as soon as they came close to the tentacles. – The beast hides behind an area of strong time dilatation. No way I can snipe it like this! Not without some laser gun.

Misato, I told you NERV should get some. – Trax said.

How would that help? – Misato asked.

Simple in normal space nothing is faster than light, so the creature couldn't see it coming and those it couldn't evade. – Trax said.

Yea, well we don't have one. – Ritsuko said.

With that wall of time dilatation around it I really can't fight it from a distance with small projectiles. – Asuka said. Can I somehow grab something really heavy and then crush it into the angel?

Hmm…. Yea, that that's possible but it can't be much bigger than your EVA for the drive to be able to handle it. – Trax said. – Also keep in mind the impulse conservation; if it's too heavy the drive won't have enough force to maneuver it.

I located a suitable asteroid 30 m in diameter moving at about 50 km/s in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. – Nadia said. – I send you the coordinates. It's a metal asteroid so it's very heavy it has about a million tons. What do you think?

Yea I can make that work. – Asuka said.

Be careful Asuka that thing you want to use as a pool ball has about 1 petajoule of energy. – Trax said, that's a 1 followed by 15 zeros.

So like 50 megatons TNT, sweet! – Asuka said.

Unit 02 managed to get the projectile into the interdimension and now is maneuvering it to hit the angel dead center. The asteroid dropped out of the interdimension together with unit 02 which directly thereafter returned to the interdimension. The angel of cause noticed it but couldn't evade in time, instead it impaled it with its tentacles breaking it apart into smaller pieces. Most of the tentacles got destroyed but the central mass of the angel remained mostly intact.

So ein verschissener Mist. – Asuka swore in German.

No way! It withstood that. – Ritsuko said.

Well, your N2 mines would probably be just as pointless. – Nadia said.

How the hell are we going to kill this thing?! – Misato screamed.

I have an idea. – Asuka said. – Trax, unlock the rotational degrees of freedom in the hyperspace.

If I do that, one minor glitch and you will shred your EVA! – Trax said.

I won't! – Asuka said – Nadia, how sure are you that the thing you marked on the scans is the angel's core?

100%, the gravimetric scans show it to be the energy source. – Nadia said.

Perfect. Trax, unlock the controls. – Asuka said.

Hold that! – Misato ordered and asked – WTF are you planning Asuka?

You will see. – Asuka said while grabbing a halberd style weapon with a prog-knife type blade.

She's apparently going to assault the angel without transiting to normal space. – Trax said.

How? – Misato asked.

Imagine your enemy is 2 dimensional and exists on a piece of paper, instead of moving on the plane you can just stick a pencil through the sheet piercing the heart of your opponent directly. – Trax said. – Just that in this analogy the weapon will be also two dimensional.

Will that work? – Ritsuko asked.

I can't say, the interaction potentials are missing one axis. – Trax said – And if she does not get the angles right, it will be spread over the entire space pocket so the effect will be nonexistent. If she gets it perfectly, that is within the drives resolution, than the space overlap will be only a few meters and that should totally shred the angel's core.

You said if she makes a mistake unit 02 gets destroyed? – Misato asked.

It's a very risky course of action, but given the angels defensive capabilities it's a good plan. – Trax said.

Unlock the damn controls. – Asuka screamed over the coms.

Fine... – Misato said.

No. – The commander interrupted – We can't risk biological contamination.

That's not really a possibility. – Trax said. – Even if Asuka would accidently …

I won't! – Asuka interrupted.

… phase a part of unit 02 through the angels body. There is no way for any meaningful interaction. – Trax said – It would all just be shredded into pieces.

If you don't do it I will! – Asuka argued.

We just lost all telemetry from unit 02. – Lieutenant Ibuki reported. – Com link is still active.

That's insubordination miss Langley! – The commander said.

Sue me! – Asuka answered.

Asuka opened a Taelon terminal with the drive control.

How the heck can she do that? – Misato said.

She wanted to learn Taelon. – Nadia said. – She got the basics in only two weeks that's very impressive.

Trax, lock her out! – The commander ordered.

Nope, won't do that. – Trax said – I understand that acting against your orders and unlocking the controls would be well let's say problematic. But I don't work for you so if I don't want I don't have to do anything. She's your operative and thus your problem.

Asuka managed to find a menu option to disable all safety mechanisms.

Well… that's not exactly what I was looking for but it will have to do, ... – Asuka said.

Trax, explain? – The commander said.

Main safeties overwrite, with that she can do whatever she wants but it will be much more risky than it has to be. – Trax said.

If I may suggest, commander. – Ritsuko said – As it stands we don't have a backup plan to destroy the angel and if she's going to try it eider way, we should not make it more difficult than it has to be.

Ok, do it. – The commander said – There will be consequences miss Langley.

Additional rotational axis unlocked. – Trax said.

Asuka took a few minutes to prepare.

Unit 02 moved in position and rammed the halberd's blade through the fabric of the normal space time into the core of the creature. The top half of the weapon disintegrated; shredded into elementary particles by the interaction potentials. An immense explosion shook the ground, the creature apparently exploded, and the space pocket begun to collapse.

Booya! Mission accomplished! – Asuka screamed over the coms.

Wow, come back Asuka! – Misato said – That was good work.

Unit 02 returned to the Geo Front and was brought in to the HQ.

What's happening to the space pocket the angel created? – Ritsuko asked.

The space time will flatten itself out again ejecting all the contained mass through the event horizon. – Trax said.

There is significant dampening in the system so it should go rather graceful. – Nadia said – So no strong gravitational waves shaking up the planet or anything like this.

Some minutes later Asuka entered the control room. Shinji was however sent for observation in the sick bay, just to be safe.

Is the commander very mad? – Asuka said. – Where is he?

He left to inspect unit 01. – Misato said – But he wants to talk to you later.

Water started coming out of the event horizon.

As it looks it will take about two days. – Nadia said.

We should retract the buildings. – Lieutenant Aoba said. – Given your data we will have to deal with about 1 000 m³ water per second. That's twice the discharge of the Ishikari River.

Authors note: That's the biggest river in japan iirc.

Perfect, first we toasted the landscape and now we'll flood it. – Misato said.

Can only be an improvement. – Asuka said.

The screens in the command center are showing the event horizon. Now some solid mater started to be ejected, stones, a lot of sand, and an old large tanker ship.

What's that? – Misato asked.

According to the IMO (International Maritime Organization) registration number still visible on the hull, it's an old tanker that got lost about 300 years ago in the Bermuda triangle. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

That thing surly swallowed a lot of junk over the centuries. – Maya added.

Yea and now it's vomiting all that all over the place. – Misato said.

Later in Trax's and Nadia's apartment, Asuka enters appearing to be quite agitated.

How did the talk with the commander go? – Trax asked.

Hmpf…. 1 week no EVA training, instead I have to go to school with Shinji. – Asuka said.

Just one week, you were lucky. – Nadia said.

Pfff… I have a university diploma I don't need a High school. – Asuka said.

Possibly it's not punishment for you, for not obeying the order, but for Shinji, for failing and letting unit 01 get caught. – Trax said.

Ha Ha, very funny. – Asuka replied.


	16. Rei kills an angel (23)

Misato wanted to make group dinner like so often but due to a faked failure of kitchen equipment, it was moved to Trax's and Nadia's apartment. Shinji started serving the food.

Shouldn't we wait for Ritsuko? – Nadia asked.

She is not invited. – Misato said.

Why is that? – Nadia asked.

I want to talk to you about what we saw recently in central dogma. – Misato said. – Asuka, please remove the battery from your cell.

I see and since Ritsuko apparently knew all that and probably knows much more you don't trust her anymore. – Nadia said.

You know that she's not old enough for being involved in orchestrating the second impact. – Trax said.

Yea, but she works with the people responsible. – Misato said.

So you mean the second impact was done on purpose? – Shinji asked.

I would say that's almost certain. When you look through the leaked documents what personnel left the Antarctic research outpost just a day before the incident, it's clear that they knew what would or at least could happen. – Trax said.

So they took a stupid risk, to get rid of a thread. – Asuka said.

No, the angels have awakened due to the incident in the first place. Where Adam was stored there was no way they could have got in. – Nadia said.

How can you know that? – Asuka asked.

Well, if they could have they would have thousands of years ago instead of going into hibernation and waiting for an opportunity. – Nadia said – Simple deduction.

So it was really on purpose. – Misato said – And we are working for these people that caused the deaths of billions.

Why?! Why would anybody do something like that? – Shinji asked.

Well, there have been no data leaked that would contain an answer or even allow for an educated guess. – Trax said.

Possibly the key is to learn more about the exact nature of the second impact and what exactly a third impact would look like. – Nadia said.

And have you? – Misato asked.

Authors note: The energy required to melt the entire Antarctic ice which is, about 30 million km³, roughly 4.52e+26 J i.e. around 100 billion megatons TNT while for a large scale extinction event only 200 million megaton TNT are required. So we had to scale the explosion down quite a bit. Fun fact: a typical chocolate bar, 100g, contains more energy, about 2 MJ, than a stick of dynamite, 200g, which has only about 1 MJ. Another fun fact Dynamite has 125% more specific energy; TNT has only 4MJ/kg. And to round things up, 0.5mg of antimatter releases 100GJ energy if it annihilates with 0.5mg of matter, that's 25 ton TNT equivalent; or 5 tons of chocolate.

Well, we studied the recordings of our satellites that were in orbit during the second impact. – Nadia said. – A lot of the damage was not cause by the explosion. In fact it occurred before. As far as we can tell based on the data, the sensors detected some unclassified energy field, now I would say some sort of AT-Field. The field caused a breakdown of all biological matter in an area of about 50 million square kilometers, at its epicenter a gigantic humanoid creature, Adam. The explosion occurred a few seconds later with a yield of about 200 thousand megatons TNT, if that was caused by an N2 mine, it would have to contain 4 tons of antimatter.

So you think this AT-Field like phenomenon, just bigger potentially global, is what the third impact would look like? – Asuka asked.

Yes, I'm afraid so. – Nadia said. – It could probably end any kind of life on earth.

So basically that would be the end, period? – Misato asked.

Authors note: In the original NGE series Misato was supposed to be the only survivor of the second impact, apparently her father put her into an escape pod shortly before everything blew up. Given the required magnitude of an explosion to cause global scale destruction, as described in the series, no escape pod could ever withstand that. And even if it did whatever was insight would be turned into sludge that is unless the capsule would have some star trek style inertial dampeners. So in this story Misato had some huge fight with her father a few days prior and simply left. Possibly saying something really hurtful to him and later on feeling guilt about it, etc…. That's still good enough to come up with a personal vendetta against the angels.

Well yes. – Nadia said – However given that the AT-Field apparently is quite versatile, it stands to argue that it possibly could be used in a more elaborate way.

Was Adam the source of the later onset explosion? – Misato asked – Did Ritsuko lied when she implied that attempting to destroy Lilith would cause another catastrophe?

The AT-Field interfered with our scanners, so we can't tell for sure, but an Antimatter explosion would be as well consistent with the measurements. – Nadia said.

Who could come up with 4 tons of antimatter? – Asuka asked.

Well, that's only 8 thousand times what the Acheron base keeps in stock. – Trax said.

Yea, it's "only" humanity's entire energy budget for two years. – Asuka said. – And that's not counting the energy loss during matter conversion.

Asuka is right humanity could never stockpile that much antimatter. – Misato said.

Possibly, the dissociative AT-Field caused a breakdown of matter in the creature's core on a subatomic level. – Trax speculated. – Still in any case, the creature in central dogma has momentarily next to no energy output, so no way blowing it up would create an explosion of the observed magnitude. – Trax said.

So what? They are using the second impact as an excuse to keep this Lilith? – Shinji asked.

It looks like this. – Misato said.

But why would they keep such a dangerous thing around? – Asuka asked.

Possibly they want to exploit the creature's ability to generate this type of AT-Field for something. – Trax said. – Man kind really loves their doomsday weapons.

What for, what good is a weapon that does not leave any survivors? – Shinji asked.

Well, during the cold war in the 20th century, the countries maintained peace by assuring each other that in case of a significant military conflict they would all destroy each other with nuclear bombs. – Trax said. – And it worked perfectly.

Nah, that worked only due to the balance of power, but with only one doomsday weapon you have no balance at all. – Asuka argued.

Ah, haven't you ever seen these good old movies where a villain takes the entire world hostage and demands a billion dollar ransom. – Trax asked.

Well, these were just movies, besides a billion dollar is nothing nowadays. – Asuka said.

I doubt that whoever is behind this is doing it only for the money, given what resources these people must have in the first place; money or political power alone can't be the objective. – Misato said.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, we don't know the extent of the conspiracy 15 years ago. – Trax said – At least the organization behind NERV political influence was established as a direct result of the second impact.

What kind of psychopath would kill billions of people for money or power? – Shinji asked.

Apparently one like your father. – Asuka said.

A few days later, Misato entered Trax's lab.

I heard from Ritsuko that they are installing a prototype of the virtual glass shield in unit 02. – Misato said – That was fast.

Yea and it was simple, in the end it's used what it was made for, mostly. – Trax said – The offensive applications are much more challenging.

What is the prototype capable of? – Misato asked.

Each of the emitters installed in unit's 02 forearms can project a barrier with a diameter up to 60m. – Trax said – The shield can be very easily maneuvered, the down side in comparison to an AT-Field is that it does not dissipate kinetic energy. So the EVA unit has to physically withstand the impact.

Yea, I don't get why Ritsuko thinks this may be so useful. – Misato said.

Well the EVA's can erode an angels AT-Field, so it stands to argue that the opposite is also possible. – Trax said – Having another layer of defense may come in handy.

I suppose so. – Misato said.

Besides, the virtual glass is capable of blocking beam weapons quite effectively. – Trax added.

I'm more interested in the progress on the weaponization. – Misato said.

It's progressing. – Trax said smirking – As expected it's challenging, but we have managed to let the fields generated by two emitters interfere.

Meaning? – Misato asked.

That we should be able to use methods known from holography to create more complex field shapes. – Trax explained.

Like the blade of a sward? – Misato asked.

Yes for example, preliminary tests with unit 00 showed that its AT-Field can't block the virtual glass. – Trax said.

Interesting, unit 00 has the strongest AT field from the three. – Misato said – But is still not capable of blocking x-rays, like this falling angel could.

I know so we can't tell if it will work against a powerful angel or not. – Trax said.

But if it does, we can do much better than a sword. – Trax added – I'm talking long range weapons, like AT-Field piercing ammunition.

Yea, if that works it would be a major tactical advantage – Misato said.

Later that day, Misato invited Kaji for a date.

I knew you still like me? – Kaji said smirking.

Sure,… Can I see your phone? – Misato said smiling.

What for? – Kaji asked.

Ah, just humor me. – Misato said.

As soon as she got the phone she dropped it into her large beer glass.

Hey what was that for?! – Kaji asked – It was a nice phone, an expensive one.

I don't want anyone eavesdropping on us. – Misato said.

You could just have told me to take the battery out. – Kaji said.

Sure,… but where would be the fun in that. – Misato said.

So I take it it's not a real date? – Kaji asked.

Nope. – Misato said smirking. – What is SEELE?

I don't know what you mean. – Kaji said.

Come on, I'm not stupid; when I gave you the files to leak to your previous employer you've acted like if that would be routine. – Misato said. – You are still working for them, aren't you?

SEELE is top secret and not afraid to make people disappear for the sake of that secrecy. – Kaji said – You should not look into these maters.

Too bad I won't stop. – Misato said. – Not after I've seen what's in central dogma.

What? You've been down there?! – Kaji asked.

During the incident with the falling angel I pushed Ritsuko to tell me why the angels are attacking here and not anywhere else. – Misato said. – I could tell you what's down there; that is if you first tell me what you know about SEELE.

Ok. I don't know exactly. – Kaji said – Half the time, people talk about them as if it's a secret intelligence unit. The other half, like they're some sort of cult. Anyhow, as it seems they have quite a few politicians on their side, possibly even some heads of states. Not to mention, they are who founded NERV's predecessor organization GEHIRN.

Where do you know that from? – Misato asked.

I'm more or less an errand boy for NERV. – Kaji said – Mostly courier stuff, delivering classified documents and materials from place to place. I keep my ears open, and sneak a look at the packages I'm assigned when I can get away with it.

And you are right I have a contact high up at the UN intelligence agency, but I'm not working for them. – Kaji added – It's rather a cooperation.

Yea, the typical double or triple agent, no true allegiance to anybody. – Misato said.

Don't be so judgmental. – Kaji said – For what I know they are all corrupt, I'm just trying to make the best out of it.

Anyhow, thanks to my handler at the UN, I've got access to certain resources. – Kaji said – Nothing official of cause. Just a bunch of people spread around the globe concerned about the direction things are going.

So like a resistance? – Misato asked.

I wished; nothing so organized. – Kaji said – They are more like a loose network of contacts. Every now and again, they give me something useful…

But mostly rumors. – Kaji added – Lots of talk about prophecies and ancient knowledge kept secret. A Human Instrumentality Project. Classified experiments in artificial evolution. They say that all sorts of organizations have links to SEELE - NERV, the Marduk Institute, even the World Health Organization...

What about the second impact? – Misato asked.

You sure you want to know? – Kaji asked.

Yea spit it out. – Misato said.

Word is that SEELE was who financed your father's Antarctic expedition. – Kaji said – Some even think they deliberately engineered Second Impact. Supposedly, that was the event that allowed them to finally take power worldwide.

Do you have any evidence for this? – Misato asked.

Unfortunately nothing solid. – Kaji Said – I was skeptical myself. But then, a few weeks ago; I hand-delivered what was supposed to be the remains of the First Angel to Commander Ikari. If they weren't involved with the Second Impact... how could they manage to get ahold of what was at the center of it all?

So that makes already two Angels in the HQ. – Misato said.

What?! – Kaji asked surprised.

I guess it's my turn now. – Misato said – NERV keeps an angel strapped down in central dogma. They call it Lilith.

The next day, the Taelon satellites have detected a suspicious energy signature some ware at the bottom of the East China Sea. NERV is monitoring the situation from their main control room.

Do you think it's an angel? – Misato asked.

The measurements are inconclusive, however the energy output suggest the source being neither man made nor of natural origin. – Nadia said.

What else could it be? – Ritsuko asked.

I wouldn't want to speculate. – Nadia said.

During the course of the day the signature moved to the pacific and approached the shore line near to Neo Tokio-3. NERV has dispatched multiple sensor buoys but none was able to pick up anything suspicious.

Damn how is that possible, we can't detect anything? – Lieutenant Hyuga asked.

I don't know, but given that it's approaching I guess we will find out soon enough. – Ritsuko said.

The signature is approaching the shore it should emerge anytime now. – Nadia said.

What if it's moving underground? – Maya asked.

That would be a problem. – Misato said.

How strong are the walls of the geo front, you have studied it for sure, is it possible that an angel could enter through the side, or is the only possible access from the top through the city? – Trax asked.

We can't exclude the possibility but it's highly unlikely. – Ritsuko said.

The source of the signal is now on dry land. – Nadia said. The main screen zoomed in onto a section of the beach. – Switching to polarisation imaging. – A long worm like creature appeared.

It's transparent. – Ritsuko said, the creature rolled op on the shore to form a ring and started to glow slowly levitating upwards.

Now we can register it on our scanners. – Lieutenant Hyuga said.

Analysis?! – Ritsuko commanded.

The energy signature is fluctuating. The MAGI system cannot analyze the target. – Lieutenant Ibuki reported.

In the meantime the creature slowly approached Neo Tokio-3.

I think it's capable of assuming different forms. Besides the once we have already seen. – Ritsuko speculated

So we cannot attack first. – Misato said.

Deploy the EVA's – the commander ordered.

But we don't know the angels mode of attack, it's dangerous. – Misato objected.

That's why we have to stop it before it comes closer. – The commander replied.

Unit 00 and 01 have been deployed to approach the angel unit 02 is tasked with defending the city, after Asukas insubordination during the last fight the commander did not wanted her on the front.

Rei get closer and take aim on the angel, fire at will. – Misato commanded.

Unit 00 took aim with its long range rifle and shot. The angel evaded the projectile the glowing ring split and one end moved at high velocity towards unit 00.

Take evasive actions! – Misato ordered over the coms, but it was too late the angel pierced units 00 AT-field and started to break through its armor. Rei attempted to pull the angel away but its end was already fused with the armor plating. Unit 00 started shooting at the portion of the creature it could get a hold of, but to no effect.

We have a biological contamination! – Aoba screamed – Its invading unit 00.

What?! Status of units 00 AT-Field? – Misato asked.

Its active but it's not stopping the angel for some reason. – Maya said.

That looks bad. – Ritsuko said. – Already 5% of the biological components are contaminated; at this rate its only matter of minutes until it reaches the entry plug.

I can't watch this. – Nadia said and left the command center. She set down next to the door and closed her eyes.

Rei, can you hear me? – She thought trying to establish a telepathic link. – Rei!

In the command center commander Ikari ordered – unit 01 pull back unit 02 move and try to pull the angel away from unit 00!

But I'm much closer. – Shinji said over the coms.

That's an order. – The commander replied.

Commander that's tactically a wrong decision! – Misato argued.

We can't risk contamination of unit 01, unit 02 is replaceable. – The commander said.

Inside unit 00, Rei thought – Nadia?

Surrender yourself to me – Nadia thought.

Yes, divine empress? – Rei answered, her red eyes started shimmering blue.

The Angel has made contact with the peripheral nervous system of the EVA and is trying to use the entry plugs neural interface to establish contact with the pilot. – Nadia thought.

With the input filters you installed that should fail, although in about 2 to 3 minutes the creature will physically reach the entry plug. – Trax replied.

More than enough time to learn something about these creatures. – Nadia thought.

You are not seriously considering trying to talk to this thing? – Trax asked.

With the input filters in place the risk for Rei are minimal. – Nadia replied.

In the meantime in NERV's command center.

We have just lost all telemetry from unit 00. – Lieutenant Ibuki reported.

Asuka hurry up! – Misato screamed over the coms.

What do you think I'm doing! – Asuka replied.

In unit 00

Rei closed her eyes. She saw an endless see of LCL, a projection of herself levitating above it.

Who is there? – Rei asked in her thoughts.

A humanoid shape emerged from the LCL and assumed Reis face.

Who are you? – Rei said – Are you one of the beings we call angels?

You will become one with me. – The creature said.

I don't want to. – Rei replied.

But you will be, yet something is still separating us. – The creature said.

Why are you seeking Lilith? – Rei asked.

We must create a new world, a pure world void of humankind. – The creature replied.

Why are you trying to destroy man kind? – Rei asked.

Because the people of this world can't be allowed to exist, if they do that will bring upon the end of all things. – The creature said.

Mankind has done a lot of bad things through the millennia, but Adam tried to end this world already when man was still not more than an animal. – Rei argued. – What could possibly be the reason for that?

What roams this world in human form is an abomination, a sacrilege. – The creature said. – Gods children's greatest fault.

It is not your world, and you have no right to judge over it! – Rei said.

But what is one species, one world, if the entirety of creation is at stake? – The creature replied.

I don't understand. – Rei said – Why would you think that mankind would bring upon the end of everything?

What created all thinks is also the key to undoing it all. – The creature answered.

That does not answer my question. – Rei said.

But it does, soon we will become one, than you will understand. – The creature said.

I will not allow that, I will stop you. – Rei said. An image of Nadia phased out of Rei's projection.

Inside unit 00, Rei lifted her hand up directed towards the part of the EVA where the angel started his invasion.

Than a bright blue light started emerging from under units 00 armor plates the end of the angel that was penetrating the plates started to crystalize.

In NERV's command center.

What's happening? – Ritsuko asked.

Analysis not possible, all sensors are in saturation! – Lieutenant Hyuga said. – We have only video.

Once about 30 meters of the angel ware crystalized it broke of and shuttered in a thousand pieces. The blue light vanished. The angel fell to the ground winding itself in a disorderly fashion.

Than unit 02 reached the site to witness the creature's demise.

Inside unit 00.

Now finish it off. – Nadia thought.

Yes, empress. – Rei replied.

Unit 00 pulled its prog-knife and charged towards the angel it pinned it down and rammed the prog-knife straight through where it perceived the core to be. The red orb inside the creature broke, the angel's body exploded. Units 00 AT field not only withstood the explosion but directed all its impulse into the ground. The walls of the command center inside the geo front shook.

Was zur Hölle?! – Asuka cursed in German. That inconspicuous girl just killed an angel almost barehanded.

What the heck we just saw!? – Misato asked.

I have no idea. – Ritsuko answered, such a reaction was more than unexpected, unit 00 being cloned from Adam, the progenitor of the angels, should have perfect tissue compatibility. – Such a volatile rejection reaction how is that even possible? – She thought.

Nadia returned to the command center and asked in an as worried tone of voice as she could play – Is it over?

Yes the angel perished. – Trax said.

What's the status of unit's 00 pilot? – Misato asked.

The telemetry is still down, coms as well. – Maya said. – But it looks like unit 00 is still operative.

No unidentified energy emissions can be detected. – Lieutenant Hyuga reported – Whatever interfered with our sensors is now gone.

Unit 00 laid down in the position suitable for a shutdown. The entry plug ejected and opened. Rei exited and proceeded to use sign language to ask for a pick up.

Apparently she is ok. – Ritsuko said.

Aoba! Send a chopper asap. – Misato ordered.

Shortly thereafter Rei was picked up and brought back to the NERV HQ for debriefing. In the meantime Dr. Akagi together with some assistants all dressed in hazmat suits was investigating units 00 status.

Later in Trax's and Nadia's apartment. Since the entirety of it is heavily shielded and equipped with other counter surveillance measures it's a safe place to talk in.

The short conversation with that creature did not go as expected. – Trax said. – Apparently it considered mankind as some kind of future threat.

I couldn't hold it of for longer without rising to many suspicions. – Nadia said. – Still, it's a valuable insight that seemingly the angels are not acting for their own selfish reasons, but are in fact trying to do the right thing. Even though from our standpoint it's completely wrong.

Yea that's true. But do you think it would be possible to reason with them? – Trax asked.

I don't think so; it looked to me like that creature is acting on a strong motivational imperative also its type of consciousness is not person like at all. – Nadia said. – I don't even know if Adam could call them back, if we could convince him to do so.

That is if his consciousness is anywhere to be found. – Trax said – Although at least we know that the arch angels had a person like type of consciousness.

From what I can put together it's likely that SEELE has put it into a hybrid body, like they done with Lilith. – Nadia said.

Yea I remember, yet another problem to handle. – Trax said.

Asuka comes in.

Hi, how was the debriefing. – Nadia asked.

Long and repetitive! NERV acts like an anthill that just got dug up, full panic mode! – Asuka said. – They put Rei into quarantine.

Well, there was a risk of biological contamination. The measures are reasonable. – Trax said.

Bullshit! It never reached the entry plug. And they were asking a lot of questions about rei in the weeks and months before, what could that have to do with anything. – Asuka said.

What have you told them? – Nadia asked.

Of cause nothing! I'm not stupid! – Asuka said. – NERV is clueless about what happened out there.

The next day in commander Ikaris office.

Rei claims that she hasn't noticed anything extraordinary, the angel just broke off and she use the opportunity to strike a killing blow. – Fuyutsuki said.

What did your preliminary analysis of unit 00 revealed. – Ikari asked.

It seems there is no biological contamination left. All the angel tissue that invaded unit 00 appears to have been stripped of water and carbon only various trace minerals remained. I can't explain this phenomenon at this point. – Dr. Akagi said.

What's with the lost telemetry? Could you recover anything from the entry plug black box – Ikari asked.

It appears some of the electrical systems experienced a power surge of unknown origin. Nothing was recorded. – Dr. Akagi answered.

I see. – The commander said – What's the overall status of unit 00, when will it be operational again?

If everything goes as planned it should be in working condition in about a week. – Dr. Akagi estimated.


	17. SEELE's Order

In Commander Ikaris Office.

So, doctor, you couldn't find an explanation for what happened to the angel? – Sub commander Fuyutsuki said.

I'm sorry commander, this effect was unprecedented. – Dr. Akagi said. – I can only speculate on the underlying cause. I assume however that whatever happened it was also the source of the interference that jammed our scanners.

What is the status of unit 00. – The commander said.

We have repaired the damage to the data systems and finished removing what was left from the angel. – Ritsuko said – The unit will be fully operational by next week.

Are you sure there is no contamination left? – Fuyutsuki asked.

As sure as I can be without entirely replacing all affected components. – Ritsuko said.

What's Rei's status? – Ikari asked.

All scans are clean, the tissue cultures as well, there really don't seem to be any biological contamination. – Ritsuko said – After a few days of observation there was nothing that would indicate a mental contamination, so I lifted the quarantine. However I made some conspicuous observations.

Like what? – Ikari asked.

As I already reported a few weeks ago, her body appears to be adapting. Now however it appears that most if not all of the supplements she was dependent on are no longer required. – Dr. Akagi said – Also there are the changes in her personality.

All these begun weeks if not months ago but only during a thorough 24/7 observation their full extent becomes apparent. The reason for this is still unclear. – Dr. Akagi Added.

Two days later in commander Ikaris office.

SEELE wishes to examine Rei on their own in their HQ. – Ikari said.

Are you going to allow that? – Fuyutsuki asked.

I don't see how we have a choice; that is if we don't want to openly declare war on the committee. – Ikari said.

I see we cannot risk that at the moment; we are by far not ready. Also the angel threat still persists. – Fuyutsuki said.

What if they will attempt to take Rei away from us? – Fuyutsuki asked.

She is instructed to end her life in case of prolonged incarceration and we have enough spares. – Ikari said.

The process has only been tested out once, it's a significant risk. Also SEELE may have means to block it when they are in possession of her current incarnation. – Fuyutsuki objected.

I am aware of that, that's why we will take precautions. – Ikari said.

Like what? – Fuyutsuki asked.

We will send one of our Taelons helpers with her. Officially just for company, but really as a bodyguard. – Ikari said.

And these one is supposed to do what exactly? – Fuyutsuki asked – Break Rei out of SEELEs custody? How do you imagine that, one person against a private army?

They always emphasized that we cannot harm them, what's a better bodyguard than an immortal. Also they have portal technology so breaking in and out should be easy enough. – Ikari said – And if SEELE escalates it, like by blowing up the floor or the entire building. Rei dyes and we should be able to weak up one of the spares.

Do you think their claims are true? – Fuyutsuki asked – I mean we never saw anything indicating they are anything but human.

Except them being 70 years old, at least, also if they really are the Taelons last chance on survival they would never be allowed to risk their lives on a bluff just to help mankind. – Ikari speculated.

So you are sure? – Fuyutsuki asked.

Not quite, it's still a gamble, they never elaborated on their mode of immortality, or their offensive capabilities. Are they some Taelon human hybrids, would a bullet just pass through one of them, like through a Taelon without any damage? Or can they regenerate any injury. It's also possible that their bodies are perfectly mortal, just that they have backups of their minds on the mothership and like rei, spare body's ready to be awoken as soon as the active incarnation expires. If the last is the case their ability to help Rei escape may be only limited, but still someone who don't fear death has more options than a regular mortal.

I see… – Fuyutsuki said – what about Rei's personality changes, she appears to be quite found of Nadia, that is very atypical for her. Aren't you concerned that her allegiance may have changed?

I couldn't picture why, our recent examinations showed that they did not put a CVI in her; also her atypical behavior is only in response to Nadia, not to Trax. If she would have been somehow manipulated to be loyal to the Taelons she would react similar to both of them. But her reactions to Trax are not significantly out of character.

I guess you are going to send Nadia with Rei to the SEELE headquarter in Vienna? – Fuyutsuki asked.

Yes. – Ikari said.

Later that day, commander Ikari asked Trax and Nadia into his office.

There is a sensitive issue we will need your help with. – The commander said. – The committee supervising NERV demands to examine Rei after the recent incident. We are worried that their concerns with possible biological or mental contamination may lead them to harm Rei.

To be perfectly blond, we think they may work under the assumption that there is a biological contamination and if they don't find anything with normal means they may proceed to do a vivisection or similar. – The sub commander added.

So just don't agree to their demand. – Trax said.

We legally don't have that option. – The sub commander said.

So how can we help? – Nadia asked. – Should one of us come along and look out for reis wellbeing?

Exactly. – The commander said.

How much do they know about us? – Trax asked. – I mean accompanying Rei and then possibly escaping with a Taelon shuttle or threatening bombardment from orbit of they don't let us go, will be anything but covert.

You are right; we have not disclosed the full extent of your involvement with the Taelons. – The commander said – Given what we know about their attitude to human rights, as it's also apparent from the current issue. It seemed wise to keep a joker or two.

Yes, indeed. – Trax said.

I consider Rei a friend, so if needed I definitely won't hold back if push comes to shove. – Nadia said.

Well, maybe you could find a way to protect her without taking a major European city as a hostage. – The sub commander said.

How much does this committee know about us? – Trax asked.

They know that you have access to some technology the Taelons left behind on earth when they left. – The commander said. – Other than that they assume you are regular humans whom just spent the past decades in stasis.

I see. – Nadia said – That should allow me for enough wiggle room to do my job without disclosing anything new.

So you want to go? – The commander asked.

Of cause, also I'll bet you knew that already up front. – Nadia said.

Yes, your reaction as expected. – The commander said.

So when am I going and where to? – Nadia asked.

The committee's headquarter is in Vienna, Austria; they want to see rei already this week. – The commander said. – If it's ok with you we will schedule the travel for in 3 days.

That's fine. – Nadia said.

The next day in Trax's lab.

We finished assembling the prototype munition for units 02 rail gun. – Vladimir said.

Perfect, so let's test it. – Trax said.

Sometime later in the Geo Front, unit 02 and 01 are preparing to test the new weapon.

Hold still, idiot! – Asuka said over the coms to Shinji.

Do you really think that's a good idea? – Shinji asked.

Well we must test it with a AT field, so just hold the target as far away from you as you can. – Misato said.

The munition is programed to not deploy if anything else that the target plate is in front of it, so you should be just fine. – Trax said. – If it does not activate it will just shatter on the AT field.

This way it's boring, we should put the target above his head. – Asuka said. – Like they did in Wilhelm Tell stories.

Are you insane? – Shinji asked.

Stop quarreling. – Misato ordered. – We won't be taking any unnecessary risks.

Fine. – Asuka said.

Unit 01 is holding a wooden target in his right arm spread away from its body.

Ok. – Shinji said. – AT-Field ready.

Unit 02 took aim with the rail gun; it looks kind of like a medieval crossbow, just without the bow part. An electrically conductive projectile, preferably made out of metal, is placed between two contact rails. Once a current is applied, typically in the range of a few million amperes the resulting Lorenz force propels the projectile outwards. The top speed achievable with units 02 gun is about 4 km/s. The weapon is very convenient as anything can be used as a projectile as long as its outer shell is sufficiently conductive. By controlling the applied current, it is possible to set an acceleration profile to minimize the g forces applied to the payload. Also the velocity of the projectile can be tuned down as much as needed if sensitive payload is used. The projectile is a 10m long and 50cm wide metal tube with the field generators and a power source inside.

I'm ready. – Asuka said.

Ok, fire. – Misato said.

The test worked, the projectile upon making contact with unit 01's AT-Field deployed a series of forward directed spikes made of virtual glass, piercing the center of the target.

See! I told you I won't miss. – Asuka said over the coms.

This munition will be a real game changer. – Misato said. – Very impressive.

If you find that impressive just wait once we finished the grenades. – Vladimir said.

How are their supposed to work? – Misato asked.

You have a device you can throw like a grenade, once it triggers it projects hundreds of meters long spikes in all directions. – Vladimir said. – Some will pierce the ground and get hold than others can be pushed through the angel.

Given the incident with the last angel we should make development and implementation of long range AT-Field piercing weapons our top priority. – Dr. Akagi said – The commanders already agreed to triple the budget and you can get as much personnel from other departments as you need.

In that case we should be able to prepare a few dozens of such projectiles by next week. – Vladimir said.

Yea, but we shouldn't let the grenade development slide; I think they will be also very useful. – Trax said.

Can you develop something to trap an angel using this virtual glass? – Misato asked.

In principle yes, but that would require multiple emitters. – Trax said.

You can create a wall with 2 devices, to fully enclose a volume we need at least 4. – Vladimir added.

If you can show that the angels can't break through a virtual glass perimeter, we should consider using it as an additional layer of protection in the geo front. – Misato said.

We have observed with the first angel to attack Neo-Tokio 3 that it had long range offensive capabilities, as also the crystalline one. – Ritsuko said. – It must be tested if these can penetrate virtual Taelon glass, or not. Cause if it can, it should be easy for the angel to destroy the emitters from outside and those disable the barrier.

For the crystalline angel I can tell you that the virtual glass would only diffuse the beam but given the intensity it definitely would not be an adequate protection. – Trax said – For the other angel's means of attack I don't have enough data to make a prediction.

So we are better focusing on offensive implementation. – Misato said.

Yes, for now I think so. – Trax said

In the evening in Trax's and Nadia's apartment.

The new weapon is great, when do you think I can test the grenades? – Asuka asked.

If nothing comes in the way than next week. – Trax said.

Like What? – Asuka asked. – What could be more important?

The commander told me yesterday that SEELE wants to examine Rei and they may attempt to harm her. – Nadia said – So in two days I'll be accompanying her to their HQ in Vienna.

You really think they may harm her? –Asuka asked.

Actually yes, if the commander is worried enough to send one of us to SEELEs HQ risking us finding out something about their secret plans, the situation must be severe. – Trax said.

I see. – Asuka asked.

Two days later, the flight to Vienna started at 9:00 GTM+9 at the Neo Tokio-3 airport. It took about 10 hours end ending at the Vienna International Airport, local time is 11:00 GTM+1

We are supposed to be at the SEELE HQ tomorrow morning, so we have half a day off. – Nadia said. – After we've checked in at the hotel I'll show you the city, .

What for? – Rei asked. – We are her only for a few days.

Because it's a very beautiful place, it survived WWII and the third impact almost undamaged. – Nadia said.

The next day morning, Nadia and Rei arrived at the SEELE building. They have been received by Dr. Nikita Suslova.

Hello Rei. – Dr. Suslova Said, long not seen. The Dr. was working a few years back in japan on SEELE's behalf.

And you must be Nadia. – She added.

That's correct. – Nadia said – Did you received the commander's request…

Yes, yes he wants you to be in the loop on all procedures we run. – The Doctor said.

How long will the tests take? – Rei asked.

Anything between two days and a week depends on what we find. – Dr. Nikita said. – We have prepared a room for you in the complex.

We already have a room at a hotel, and we would like to stick with it. – Nadia said.

At least one test requires 24h observation, but other than for these you can return to your hotel for the night. – Dr. Suslova Said.

The next day 17:23 Rei and Nadia are waiting in a room in the medical wing of the SEELE HQ, Rei sits in a bed wearing a hospital garment, Nadia sits in a chair next to the bad. A nurse enters.

Hi, we have one more test on schedule for today, an Electrical Impedance Tomography with a contrasting agent. Miss Ayanami, your left arm, please. – The Nurse said.

Wait, what sort of contrasting agent exactly? – Nadia asked while standing up – As you should know commander Ikari wished you'll inform me about all details of any invasive procedures.

Don't worry it's a standard Gadolinium based contrast agent nothing to worry about. – The nurse said.

Authors Note: Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a relatively new non-invasive medical imaging technique in which an image of the conductivity or permittivity of part of the body is inferred from surface electrode measurements. To my knowledge there are no contrasting agents for this imaging technique. Also Gadolinium based Contrast Agents are used for MRI only.

Please step away from the bad! – Nadia said. – Whatever is in that syringe is not a contrast agent.

In that incident the nurse tried to pull a gun, but before she could even reach it, Nadia emitted an energy blast from her right hand that throw the fake nurse half through a wall rendering her unconscious.

What did this person try to inject me with? – Rei asked.

I don't know yet, but I know there are no contrasting agents used in Electrical Impedance Tomography. – Nadia said while picking up the vial with the remaining substance. – But I will find out.

What now? – Rei asked.

Now we have to go, dress up quickly. – Nadia said while blocking the door.

Rei finished dressing up a few minutes later. Then she asked – Why is there no alarm, shouldn't they notice something already.

Austrians are very strict with their laws especially with regard to privacy; there are no cameras in the patient rooms, only on the corridors. – Nadia said.

So how do we get out? – Rei asked.

I'll just crash the CCTV network, than we can find our way out. – Nadia said.

What about the guard's in front of the door? – Rei asked.

Nadia put her hand onto the wall opposite to the door. And said – We are taking the rear exit. – The modern light weight build plaster plate wall crumbled unveiling the metal rib mounting structure. Nadia did the same to the plaster plate on the other side; the clearance was large enough for them booth to pass through. Technically one could just grab a chair and do the same but that would be noisy and may have alarmed the guards. The room on the opposite side was luckily not used right now, it was an OP room. Nadia pulled a coat out of a closet and some additional protective gear.

Put this on. – Nadia said.

What about the CCTV? – Rei asked.

It's already down. – Nadia said – Let's go.

Booth exited into the corridor and went in the direction of the elevators.

Where are we going? – Rei asked.

To the underground parking structure there we can procure a car and escape. – Nadia said.

Since the complex was build underground the parking structure was actually one of the top most levels. In front of the elevators a crowd of people started to accumulate. Nadia read the door display from a distance, it read: lock down due to an access control issue.

That's not good, they stopped the elevators, eider as a standard procedure when the CCTV system crashed or I broke more than intended. – Nadia said.

So where do we go now? – Rei asked.

Luckily we have to get only one level up. – Nadia said, while looking around.

There, 20 meters from here is a chemistry lab directly under the parking structure. – Nadia said.

How can you know that also how did you disable the CCTV system? – Rei asked, as she did not notice Nadia doing anything but saying it.

It's a small trick I picked up from Trax; I can manipulate electronic systems at a distance. – Nadia said.

You mean like that happened with the entry plug recorders? – Rei asked.

Yea, just that was Trax; I was preoccupied with the angel. – Nadia said.

They arrived in the lab, since it was already after hours the lab was empty. Nadia looked through the available supplies.

What are you planning? – Rei asked.

I'll mix up something to blast through the ceiling. – Nadia said.

Why don't you do the same as with the wall in the room? – Rei asked.

That was a thin plaster plate anyone can get through one of those, if I break however a few 10cm of solid steal reinforced concrete that will open questions I don't what SEELE asking. – Nadia said.

Nadia mixed up a high explosive and placed it formed into a shape charge onto the ceiling.

Ok, take cover. – Nadia said.

Nadia detonated the charge with an energy blast from her right hand; the explosion ripped open a huge whole, a loud alarm siren activated. Nadia and Rei went through the breach into the parking structure. Therein was quite a chaos, given the current time most of the regular employees were on their way home so grabbing a car and escaping was easy enough. Especially given the safety regulations that in case of a fire or explosion in an underground traffic structure all occupied vehicles have to leave quickly but orderly.

In the mean Time in japan

SEELE, just made their move. – Trax said.

What, where, when? – Asuka asked.

Just right now, they tried to inject Rei with some unknown substance. – Trax said. – Nadia took out the would be assassin and is plotting an escape.

Right, this telepathic connection of yours, each of you is always aware of what happens to the other, that's so freaky. – Asuka said.

Well, it allows you for some need party tricks, besides its extremely useful. – Trax said.

Anyhow what now? – Asuka asked.

We should notify the commander. – Trax said.

Shouldn't we first help them? – Asuka asked.

No need, escaping from a high security facility is really easy given our capabilities. – Trax said.

During that back in Austria, Nadia and Rei just left the underground and entered public traffic.

Where are we going now? – Rei asked – I guess we can't go back to the hotel.

Right, don't worry; we have safe houses in most major cities, not far from here is an old one from Trax. – Nadia said – But before we go there we have to ditch this car.

A few minutes later they left the car in an inconspicuous parking spot and traveled a few stations by Tram. The city being a tourist attraction still used as a part of their fleet old Trams built in the mid of the 20th century. These were kept original, interior and exterior, meaning that in such cars no CCTV was installed and they were still operated by a conductor. Also for reasons of citizen data protection, CCTV on the streets was only allowed to survey street traffic but not pedestrians. An old law brought in by the Austrian pirate party even stipulated that the transmitted video must be scaled down such that face recognition is not possible, however a vehicle registration plate recognition software was allowed to run on the camera hardware; image sections containing those were exempt from the down scaling.

Later 02:07 japan time, Trax just entered commander Ikaris office.

What's their status? – Gendo asked.

They arrived at a safe house. – Trax said.

Using portal technology they can be back in japan in an instance. – Trax said.

Do that. – Gendo said.

And how will you explain that to SEELE? – Trax asked.

Easy, they will stay here of the grid for a few days to make a conventional return plausible and that's it. – The commander said.

Very well. – Trax said and laid a Taelon com device on commander's desk. After a connection was established it showed a hologram of Nadia and Rei.

The commander wants you to return asap. – Trax said.

So soon, being back in Vienna is great; it's a pity the visit got cut short. – Nadia said.

You can stay as long as you want, but Rei must return imminently. We cannot take any risks. – The commander said – Rei, are you unharmed?

Yes, Nadia protected me very well. – Rei said.

Nadia, Do you know what they tried to inject Rei with, or do you have a sample? – The commander asked.

No, sorry, the syringe broke when I threw the fake nurse through the room. – Nadia said.

I see. – Gendo said.

Well, we'll return to the portal in my apartment. – Nadia said.

Good, stay there for a few days so that we can make SEELE believe you came back using ordinary means. – The commander said.

Ok. – Nadia said and closed the connection.

Do you want to come and see Rei? – Trax asked.

No need, I trust she is in good hands. – The commander said.

The next day in Trax's and Nadia's apartment, inside a section of the Taelon structure setup as a bio hazard lab.

Why haven't you tolled the commanders that you got the vile with the substance? – Rei asked.

This way we can run our own tests on it. – Nadia said.

What for? You think it's not just some poison? – Asuka asked.

Well if they would want Rei dead they could just have shot her, there was enough military personal there. – Nadia said. – This must be something more elaborate.

Like what? – Asuka asked.

I took a quick look at the sample in the safe house with an old ESI TOF, on that machine it appeared to be just a mixture of various bio compatible solvents with no content. – Nadia said.

Whatever is inside apparently does not ionize well or its mass exceeds the capabilities of that old machine. – Trax said while putting some microliters of the solution through a sintered glass filter. – Interesting, it appears its some sort of colloid there is a solid residue on the filter.

What's the pore size of that filter? – Asuka asked.

About 500nm, so it probably is not a virus, most would pass through. – Trax said. – I'll pull a vacuum on the fraction that passed through, if there is nothing left after the solvents evaporated than the residue on the filter is the interesting thing.

Shortly thereafter Trax put a small sample of the residue onto a TEM grid and inserted it into a scanning helium ion microscope.

Let's take a really close look. – Trax said while engaging the transfer mechanism that brings the sample into the ultra-high vacuum of the microscope chamber.

How long will it take until we can start imaging? – Asuka asked.

About 5 minutes. – Trax said.

So what do you think is it? – Asuka asked – I mean Nadia said that the fake nurse was not in a bio hazard suit or anything and bringing something contagious back to NERV would be really stupid as they need us to slay the angels. Was it somehow tailored to make only Rei sick?

Yes, that's true, but if they could do that, they wouldn't have to inject her in the first place, just design it to spread in the population without symptoms and be deadly only to the target person. – Trax said.

What I find really strange is the volume; 20 ml is awfully lot. If you want to inject someone with a bacteria or a virus you don't need that much, just a few and they start replicating. – Nadia said. – Well it makes sense that they tried to disguise it as some sort of contrasting agent, everything else would be just not plausible in any way.

So you think it something not biological? – Asuka said.

I think so, yes. – Nadia said.

Let's see, the microscope is ready. – Trax said, while locating the sample on the inserted TEM grid. – Here it is, let's zoom in.

The screen showed a pile of roundish spheres. Trax positioned an AFM (Atomic-force microscopy) tip over the imaged area and used it to grab one of the spheres and move it onto a clean section of the sample grid.

This machine is also capable of Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy so we can take a look inside the sphere. – Trax said, while swathing into transmission mode.

Marvelous, can it also do tomography? – Asuka asked.

Infect yes it can, but only limited, the sample object has to be rotated using the AFM tip and that is not very precise so the quality of the image is not that great. – Trax said – We have a better one on the mothership that uses antigravity to suspend and manipulate the sample.

On the screen appeared and x-ray style image of the sphere, revealing some inner structure.

It looks like there is something inside; the sphere is only a transport shell to allow whatever it harbors to remain in suspension. – Nadia said.

I can cut the sphere open with an Argon ion beam. – Trax said.

Better use the AFM tip, this way we have better control how deep we cut. – Nadia said.

Tearing the sphere open with the tip revealed something quite unexpected. Inside it was a rather sophisticated micro machine; it had multiple rather thick flagellums and on one side of it was a smaller sphere mounted.

What the hack is that thing?! – Asuka said.

Apparently a micro machine, mankind shouldn't longer have the capabilities to manufacture such sophisticated devices. – Nadia said.

Well it's only a question of money, they have the required knowledge, but at the current state of manufacturing capabilities that 20 ml of nanites could have cost anything from 200 million to a few billion euros. – Trax said.

Yea, I read about those. – Asuka said.

A tomography image of the nanites revealed that the installed microsphere appeared to be some sort of heterogeneous crystalline material.

Trax, please run a NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy on the sphere installed in the micro machine. – Nadia said.

Shortly thereafter the results were in.

That…. That looks like angel core matter. – Asuka said.

Yes, it is. – Nadia said.

Probably from the first angel you slayed, this one did not explode and left a nice corpse behind with a mostly undamaged core. – Trax said.

… but why, why would this SEELE committee go to such lengths to inject that in Rei? – Asuka asked.

Rei look to Nadia.

You can tell her. – Nadia said.

Because I'm not a human being. – Rei said.

What?! – Asuka screamed.

After so many failed attempts to synchronize the EVA units with pilots, they decided to engineer a pilot which would be compatible. – Rei said.

And that was you? – Asuka asked.

Yes. – Rei Said.

I see and once they got it working they could find out, what's the key factor and found real pilots. – Asuka said. – But how did they manage to make it work in the first place? More important what are you?

I was created using genetic information's from Lilith. – Rei said.

So that,… that would mean you are part angel? – Asuka asked quite shocked.

Yes. – Rei said.

So is that how you defeated the last angel? – Asuka asked.

No that was Nadia, but they don't know that. – Rei answered.

What?! What haven't you told me?! – Asuka screamed.

For what we know SEELE is intending to initiate the third impact using Lilith and probably the EVA's once the angels have been defeated. – Trax said.

Since Rei is in some sense Lilith they apparently intended to put some sort of safeguard in place. – Nadia speculated. – But to really understand the nature of it we will need to dissect some of the nanites in a proper lab on the mothership.

Wait, what the heck, why would they do that? – Asuka asked.

Why did they cause the second impact? – Nadia said. – It wasn't just to destroy Adams body such that the angels can't get to it. They could have left it in storage.

The second impact was what woke them all up in the first place. – Trax said. – They couldn't risk initiating a third impact type event with all these angels lurking some ware and waiting.

Ok… still why would they want to end life on earth as we know it in the first place? – Asuka asked. – That's simply ludicrous!

Because this would put them in the position of shaping the new world as they see fit. – Trax said.

Although we don't know what their exact endgame is. – Nadia added. – We know that this Anti AT-Field the arch angels are capable of generating can not only be used to simply destroy life but also to change it.

Ok; so what about you? – Asuka asked. – You clearly know a lot more about this matters than you possibly could,… besides how could you have helped Rei to destroy the angel in the first place?

What do the Taelons have to do with the angels?! – Asuka asked further – Have you brought them here?

The Taelons don't have anything to do with it. – Nadia said.

The two archangels have been created by Nadia's ancestors about 12 thousand years ago. – Trax said. – We don't have many details on the exact course of events. All we know is that Adam at some point decided to rebel against his creators and wanted to wipe man kind of the face of this planet. Nadia's people managed to defeat him and separate his mind from his body. Unfortunately not before he managed to create the angels from his flesh, their only objective in live is to complete what he failed to do.

Is that true? – Asuka said – How can that be possible, that's like 10 thousand years before the Taelons first came to earth.

Yes, unfortunately it is true. – Nadia said. – What is now happening is an unexpected result of what my people did countless millennia ago.

And the Taelons, what's their part in all of that? – Asuka asked.

As I said: none. – Nadia said. – When their time was to run out we struck an understanding, they would go into stasis like Ma'el envisage, but it would be our duty to ensure their survival. And if possible find a way to get them out of their evolutionary blind alley.

How can that be, another technologically advanced civilization developing thousands of years ago without leaving as much as a trace? – Asuka asked.

It's simple; they did not develop on earth. – Trax said.

Wait, what?! But that would mean… – Asuka said.

Yes, I'm also not human. – Nadia said. – My ancestors the atlanteans did not origin from this planet.

But, you look so human, down to the finest details. – Asuka argued.

Well, actually it would be more accurate to say, that you look atlantean. – Nadia said.

You see; Nadia's people came to earth before the emergence of mankind. – Trax said.

Where are they? – Asuka asked. – Why can't they take care of the angels if they made them it should be their responsibility to deal with them?

They are all gone. – Nadia said.

You see, Nadia is the last of her kind, since about two centuries. – Trax added.

We tried to use the Taelon mothership to find my ancestors home world, but to no avail. – Nadia said.

So, Trax that means you are human? – Asuka asked.

I was human long time ago. – Trax said.

Nadia, why did your people created the arch angels in the first place? – Asuka asked.

That's complicated; it was an experiment, one that failed catastrophically. – Nadia said.

Not good enough, why would you create such doomsday creatures in the first place. – Asuka said.

We did it in an attempt to correct a serious oversight made a very long time ago. We had good intentions. But, that really is a matter for another time. It is not relevant for the situation at hand. – Nadia said.

What would you try to correct using a creature capable of reshaping the life on an entire planet? – Asuka asked.

Asuka, we told you enough for now. – Trax said.

Fine, anyhow, does that mean she or you are capable of killing an angel just so easily? – Asuka asked.

For once it was not apparent whether I can do that without risk. – Nadia said – But more important is that if I would use my powers openly SEELE would be warned and our attempts to prevent a manmade third impact would be substantially impeded.

It is better if they assume as they, as far as we know, do that we are just some Taelon hybrids which they can manipulate with misinformation. – Trax said.

That's really a lot to take in, and that's just the tip of the iceberg…. – Asuka said. – You've been lying to all of us for months now.

Technically we did not; we just haven't said all we knew. – Trax said. – Like for example when I answered Shinjis question about why SEELE would have caused the second impact on purpose, I said: "Well, there have been no data leaked that would contain an answer or even allow for an educated guess." and that was true. Only from our historic knowledge about the angels we could deduce what would most likely have been the reason.

Also now you will have to start to do the same. – Nadia said – I'm sure you realize by now the importance of keeping this information's secret from NERV.

But we surly can tell Misato? – Asuka asked.

Probably, but not definitely, and given what's at stake we should not take any unnecessary risks. – Trax said.

So why are you telling it me now? – Asuka asked.

Because you asked? – Trax said – No, seriously, before that you worked under the assumption that NERV wants to destroy the angels and then they will take the world hostage, or something. But now you know that once the angels are destroyed, they most likely are going to use Lilith as soon as they can without any warning.

And do you have any means to stop them? – Asuka asked.

We think so, but the collateral damage may be extreme. – Trax said.

You mean another explosion like the second impact? – Asuka asked.

Or bigger, Lilith was more powerful than Adam; she was an arch angel 2.0. – Nadia said.


	18. The new unit and its Pilot (17,18)

A few days after Nadia and Rei returned; in commander Ikaris office.

Ridiculous! How could an unknown assailant break into SEELE's HQ and perform an assassination tempt?! – Major Katsuragi argued.

That is the story the committee sticks to. – Commander Ikari said.

Well, this course of events is better than if SEELE would openly request one of the pilots to be harmed or incarcerated. – Trax said.

Still, why would the committee try to harm Rei? – Misato asked.

Probably it was some sort of illegal experiment, nothing more. – The sub commander said.

The next day, Misato together with Kaji unexpectedly visited Trax and Nadia.

We have to talk. – Misato said while entering our protagonist's apartment.

About? – Nadia asked.

What NERV is really intending to use the EVA's for. – Misato said.

Are you sure, we can talk freely in here? – Kaji interrupted.

Yes, unless you brought some bugs yourself. – Nadia said.

The apartment is perfectly shielded. – Trax said.

They set down in the main room.

According to what Kaji found out NERV's endgame is not just to defeat the angels but they are going to use the evangelions for something else. – Misato said.

It is called the human instrumentality project. – Kaji said. – To what I could find out it has something to do with artificial evolution…

Given the secrecy it's probably something, the public would not approve of. – Trax said – So what are you suggesting we do about that?

I don't know, but we have to find out more and if necessary,…. If necessary stop them. – Misato said.

That is quite a step just a month ago you considered leaking some data to the UN treason, and now you are suggesting to sabotage NERV. – Nadia said.

NERV was hiding so much for all that years, … and you said it yourself they probably orchestrated the second impact on purpose. – Misato said – No way can we trust them to act for the good of mankind.

Well, we have been running some investigations of our own. You are right NERV's end game is a sinister one. – Nadia said – They want to reshape life on earth as we know it. They want to use eider the EVA's or Lilith for that.

We don't have any concrete hints on what the exact endgame might be. – Trax added – But we speculate that there may be more than one scenario to go.

What do you mean? – Kaji asked.

We have reasons to believe that commander Ikari has plans to hijack the project and bring it to a different outcome than SEELE intents. – Trax said.

Where do you know that from? – Kaji asked.

We have an insight source. – Nadia said.

What do you mean with: "reshape life on earth as we know it"? – Misato asked.

Mmh… That is difficult to explain. – Nadia said. – The only thing we can tell you is that as far as we know a sufficiently strong Anti AT-Field can be used to destroy the cohesion of biological tissue, this however without destroying the initial structural information, which becomes preserved in the field. So in principle this information can be altered and finally used to reconstitute an organism.

What does that mean? – Kaji asked.

More simply put every living matter exposed to an Anti AT-Field will decompose into a sort of primordial soup, very much like the orange liquid in terminal dogma we saw. – Trax said. – In this state the organism can be modified, you can rewrite the DNA, modify the proteins, etc… whatever you want. Of cause that would require a quantum computer of incredible processing power, but then look at the brain size of an EVA or an arch angel; could be more than enough.

And then what? – Kaji asked – The organism can be put back together?

Pretty much yes, conceptual it's not so different to how a Taelon medical tank can be used in extreme circumstances. – Trax said.

Authors note: In Episode 1x22 ("The Joining") we see that Zo'or vaporizes Boone, which previously got mortally wounded, while he is in a medical tank. Later in Episode 2x5 ("Moonscape") we see a brain washed character called Lazarus which apparently has some if not all of Boone's memories, yet a completely new body.

But they would have to deploy this field globally; right? – Misato asked.

Yes, they would. – Nadia said. – But given the already reached magnitude during the second impact that should be easily doable with an arch angel or possibly sufficiently many EVAs if they find out how to equip them with S2 organs and connect them together.

But why?! To what end? – Misato asked.

We can speculate on the "how" based on our research, but we have no findings that would allow us to speculate on the "why". – Trax said.

I may have an idea on the why; it's possible that SEELE is acting based on some antique prophecies. – Kaji said – During my research into the SEELE organization I stumbled across multiple mentioning's of a set of scrolls discovered in caves at Qumran in 1947. They supposedly foretold the coming of the angels. If as we learned SEELE orchestrated the second impact on purpose to awake the angels they may be working toward fulfilling some prophecy.

That's a non-explanation, don't get me wrong it's a nice story, but it gives an answer without actually explaining anything. – Asuka said.

How long have you been standing there? – Kaji asked. – Nadia, haven't you said we can talk freely in here.

We can, in fact we have involved Asuka in our investigations already some time ago. – Nadia said.

Isn't that a bit negligent, in the end she's only a teenager? – Kaji asked.

Pfff… I know more about how evangelions work than you will ever be able to comprehend! – Asuka argued.

Indeed; Asukas insights into many EVA systems were very helpful. – Nadia said.

Well I gathered quite a few snippets of informations about the EVA project myself, so how about you tell me all you know and we can work out if I have anything valuable to contribute. – Kaji suggested.

What a cheap attempt to pick our brains. – Asuka said.

Why not? – Nadia said. – Even assuming he would be secretly working for NERV we aren't telling him anything NERV doesn't already know.

Let's start with the obvious. – Trax said – Evangelions are manufactured from cloned angel tissue, as far as the official lines go from the creature encountered at the South Pole. The various body parts are grown in vitro and then assembled together with bionic components into the final creature.

Herein is already the first of NERV's lies, unit 01 clearly is not cloned from Adam but from the other archangel NERV keeps confined in terminal dogma, called Lilith. – Trax added. – But whether this has any significance remains to be seen.

And here comes the next one. The creature's brains are supposedly void of any minds and to be controlled by the pilots, using a neural link. – Nadia said. – Now given my work on the entry plug neural interface and interface improvements I can tell that this is not true at least for the units I worked with.

As it appears the creatures brains are not blank, as far as I could deduce from the few unredacted readings I got they contain human minds. – Nadia continued. – Why they usually don't express any agency we don't know. The access to detailed informations on the EVAs central nervous system is strictly confidential. Neither I nor Asuka were ever allowed to work with those parts.

But aren't the EVA brains set up similar to the MAGI system? That is programed with a copy of a personality. At least that's what Ritsuko always said. – Misato asked.

That's not how it works; you cannot copy a mind and expect it to remain active. – Nadia said – At any given time only one copy can be active.

Why is that? – Kaji asked.

I guess you can take it as prove for the existence of a soul. – Trax said. – As you surely know the human brain is basically a large quantum computer. But it does not maintain a wave function indefinitely, only while it's conscious. So if a person loses consciousness only classical, that is copyable, states remain which can be replicated exactly.

Authors note: In physics, the no-cloning theorem states that it is impossible to create an identical copy of an arbitrary unknown quantum state. This no-go theorem of quantum mechanics has profound implications in quantum computing and related fields.

The interesting thing is what happens next; all Taelon experiments with replicating human minds resulted in only one entity being able to regain consciousness. And whether it was the original or the copy depended only on which was first put into an in principle functional state. Furthermore, assuming you woke up the copy first, the soul could be returned back to the original by rendering the duplicate unconscious. That is of cause under the assumption that the neural engrams of the copy did not diverged to much from the original template in the meantime. – Trax continued.

Ok, so what with the MAGI system? – Misato asked again.

While NERVs central computer systems are implemented using neural networks grown from human tissue they are not organized like a human brain. – Trax said – The system emulates human neural patterns for problem solving, pattern recognition and other tasks. But it all doesn't, at least to what I can tell, come together to form a mind. Also it has no agency at all; the operational tasks are managed by digital components. Without the schedulers assigning tasks the neural networks would quickly cease activity. And without the digital feedback the networks would not be able to learn, the fitness function must be supplied externally.

And how is that different from an EVA? – Misato asked further.

Well, for once there are incidents on record which prove the EVA units we have are capable of autonomous operation, most prominent unit 01's reactivation and subsequent fight with the first angel to attack Neo Tokio-3. But also unit 00 expressed agency during the failed activation test, it moved on its own even after the entry plug with the pilot was ejected. – Nadia said.

I see; I remember Ritsuko was clearly frightened when unit 01 started its rampage. – Misato said.

Also the whole purpose of most of the entry plug input filters is to prevent the EVA from taking control of the pilot. – Nadia added.

So you are saying there is an actual person inside each of the EVA's? – Misato asked.

Probably, in some way at least given that these creatures have been assembled rather than grown and had no opportunity to develop a mind of their own. – Nadia said.

Do you know whose minds have been used? – Kaji asked.

Not for certain, but we have some ideas on unit 01 and 02. – Nadia said.

So? – Misato asked.

Well, we think that the soul in unit 01 belonged to Yui Ikari, Shinjis mother. – Trax said. – It must have happened during the contact experiment in 2104 when she vanished.

And unit 02? – Misato asked again.

Mmm… probably it was my mothers. – Asuka said.

What? That's awful! – Misato said. – But Wait, are you saying NERV did that on purpose? I couldn't imagine commander Ikari sacrificing his wife; according to Ritsuko he is still mourning her lost after a decade.

It could have been an accident. – Trax Said – Possibly they tried to wire the people into the EVA directly, allowing for full control. The pilots than would in their perception became one with the EVA. So no synchronization like it is done now but in fact a direct neural interface. But than their minds would become integrated into the neural structure of the EVA and this is as far as we know based on old Taelon experiments on mind transfers a one way street in such situations. Once the mind gets sufficiently much new neural real-estate to expand within it cannot simply be confined back into a small human brain. Hence after the procedure the Pilot ends up in a coma while his mind and soul remains in the bigger brain.

But then they should be able to communicate? – Misato asked.

Normally that would be the expectation, but of cause an EVAs brain may be lacking certain capabilities or they have been made dormant on purpose. – Nadia said.

So what exactly happens when a pilot synchronizes with an EVA? – Kaji asked.

Well ideally the EVA will simply emulate the neural patters of the pilot giving him control kind of like a proxy. – Asuka said.

And not ideally, or worst case? – Misato asked.

The interface will reverse and the EVA could try to subdue the pilot. – Asuka said.

But with my I/O filters that should nowadays be impossible. – Nadia said.

Sorry, but how is that different from the direct neural interface? – Kaji asked.

Well, the EVA's brain does not become one with the pilots, instead it only replicates what the pilots brain does, and all that only rather superficial, mostly only the sensory and motoric regions are synched. – Trax said.

Talking about pilots, why are they all so young, also my investigations showed that the marduk institute, which is supposed to be in charge with finding them is only a front. Apparently most, if not all, kids in Shinjis school class are candidates. So what's up with that? – Kaji asked.

Well, as you know attempts to use grown up pilots for the EVA's all resulted in failure, the candidates upon synchronization all suffered epileptic episodes making them unable to control the unit; some even suffered permanent brain damage. – Nadia said. – The reason for that was that their brains couldn't cope with the new input signals.

You see, in order for the synchronization to work; the connection cannot be unidirectional. So the pilot gives up, to a certain extent, control over his brain to the EVA. – Nadia continued – The much higher neuroplasticity of young brains in development allows them not only to adapt to that and function but to excel at that.

NERV actually went to quite extraordinary lengths in order to discover that mundane fact. – Nadia added. – Subsequently the first designated pilots, Rei and Asuka, went through their first synchronization experiments at a very young age. According to our findings the borderline age is before entering the puberty. It appears that once a person undergone enough synchronizations the capability becomes permanent.

That practically is of cause everything but ideal, so in order to overcome that limitation they developed a treatment which when a child undergoes locks its brain in a state of heightened neuroplasticity. – Trax said – So these kids can at any age be put in an EVA and should be capable of synchronizing without adverse effects. Apparently Commander Ikaris son has been subjected to this treatment as well. At least he has no recollection of piloting an EVA before the angel attack some months ago. But on the other hand such memories could have been suppressed.

I see… – Kaji said. – So if the angels would have started their offensive a few years later, NERV would have proper grown up pilots to fight.

Yes, apparently. – Trax said.

That's all interesting but what about that human instrumentality project, that's the actual issue at hand? – Misato said. – Do you know how it would be executed?

Well that's probably NERV's and SEELE's most guarded secret so I can tell you only some speculations on the exact details. – Trax said – But given our research we have some general idea about the mechanism.

As already mentioned the key element is an Anti AT-Field, whether all angels are in principle capable of producing it cannot be clarified only with the observations at hand. But given the fact that they are clones of Adam and he possessed the capability would however strongly hint that they are capable of that. – Trax said – Also the observation that the angels can utilize their AT-Field in a very versatile way demonstrates that in principle they should also be capable of inverting it. However since their observed peek energy output is far lower than the one of Adam, it is likely that each angel in its own couldn't create an Anti AT-Field large enough to engulf the entire planet. That would make it necessary for them to seek out their creator to accomplish that task. But since Adam was destroyed they are now going for the next best thing, that being the other archangel Lilith.

I see… however to my knowledge Adam was not destroyed during the second impact; well not entirely that is. – Kaji said. – You see when I came back to japan from Germany I brought with me a specimen which is supposed to be the remains of the archangel Adam.

You are right speculating that the angels would seek it out, SEELE worked on der the same assumption that why they send unit 02 as guard with it. – Kaji added.

What exactly did you brought? – Nadia asked.

Well, it looked like an embryo it was transported frozen solid. – Kaji said, and shown a photo he took.

That could complicate things. – Trax said.

Anyhow, couldn't the angels work together instead of seeking out an archangel? – Misato asked.

Well, there are several possibilities why they don't. – Nadia said – One is they may be unable to merge their field output. The other is that they don't want to work together; possibly one could look on it like a race whoever makes it first to an archangel will be the one to choose how the world would to change. And lastly its possible they minds are not capable of grasping the concept of cooperation or even communication. It's possible that when Adam created them he gave them simple minds focused on a single objective.

Do you know who created the arch angels? – Misato asked. – To what you told me already this beings are artificial.

Well, the Taelons have no records on that mater, sorry. – Trax said.

Possibly whomever left the Qumran scrolls behind created the angels. – Kaji speculated.

The artefacts are about two thousand years old, the arch angels are much older at least ten thousand years. – Trax said.

Ok, than it were the descendants of the makers. – Kaji said.

Probably, but that still does not tell you who these makers were. – Trax said.

How do the Evengelions and angels generate an AT-Field in the first place? – Kaji asked.

Apparently it's a capability of any emergent lifeform, although for most only extremely week; the angels however are capable of outputs orders of magnitude higher than other creatures. – Trax said – In fact it's a property so common that even lifeforms based on energy like the Taelons require it. They convert core energy into Field strength; it is what allows them to maintain their shapes if a Taelon runs out of that field energy he vanishes. The Taelons during their evolution and creation of the commonality at some point lost the capability of generating sufficient amounts of core energy. Leaving them in the evolutionary blind allay they tried to find a way out by coming to earth.

Does that mean that the Taelons came here for the angels?! – Misato asked.

Well it is possible that Ma'el discovered their existence and intended for them to be used at some point, but as you all know he destroyed all his research and did not share it with the other Taelons. – Nadia said. – When they landed on earth a century ago they were oblivious to the existence of these creatures.

Why are the angels capable of generating so much more AT-Field energy in the first place? – Kaji asked.

To what we can tell it appears the red orbs the angel possess, called cores, are energy sources. They provide enough suitable energy for the creatures to generate AT-Fields strong enough to be projected outwards. The mechanism here is quite extraordinary, these sources generate vast amounts of core energy which is then used to power their mitochondria directly as well as converted into a strong AT-Field. – Trax said.

Authors note: Mitochondria are the power sources of cells; they produce Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) by oxidizing the major products of glucose. These Organelles being powered in an angel directly by a non-chemical energy source is what ensures the creature don't require breathing and have to eat only when they want to grow, but not for the maintenance of live functions.

So without a core an angel could not generate a meaningful AT-Field? – Misato asked.

The cores the EVA units, we know 00 to 02 and probably 05, are equipped with apparently are not functional. – Trax said – It seems they cannot generate an energy surplus but they are functional enough that if you pour in enough external power they generate sufficient amounts of core energy to operate. Given that this part is one of NERV's best guarded secrets we never got an opportunity to examine one directly.

So that's why SEELE is still pushing research into this dubious S2-Tehcnology. – Misato said – For the human instrumentality project they need a fully functional core which does not require auxiliary power.

Indeed it would seem so. – Trax said. – They are attempting to replicate fully functional cores capable of standalone operation.

Ok, once they manage to create this world spanning Anti AT-Field, what's next? – Kaji asked. – With what means would they determine how the life on earth would be reshaped?

Well they are probably going to use a pilot as a proxy, whom ever controls the entity that generates the Anti AT-Field has control over the process. – Nadia said.

What about this artificial piloting system, Ritsuko is working on, the Dummy Plug? – Misato asked.

Ah yes, it's very similar to the MAGI system, that is, it was programed with relevant neural patterns of an actual pilot. It emulates a pilot's neural activation patterns allowing for synchronization. But it does not have a soul and its operation is governed by digital systems. – Trax said.

So you mean like an artificial soul? – Kaji asked.

No absolutely not, well, that comparison would be like saying a manikin is an artificial human. – Trax said.

Who's neural patterns? – Misato asked.

Reis. – Nadia said.

Ok, so they copied Rei's neural engrams? Does that mean that they know all that she remembers? – Misato asked.

No, neural engrams are too complex to be interpreted given the current state of technology on earth. – Trax said. – They can copy it in bulk but they can't make meaning out of it.

Anyhow, could they use this Dummy Plug to control the execution of the human instrumentality project? – Misato asked.

I'm not sure, as Trax already explained that contraption does not have a soul… – Nadia said – At this point I can't exclude that but it's unlikely I think it should require a real person.

Later that day in Trax's and Nadia's Apartment.

What do you think NERV wants to use this Adams embryo thingy? – Asuka asked – Surly it can't be the real thing?

Well, given what we know about Adams condition whether it's a clone or some last remaining tissue that remained viable and start regenerating is inconsequential. – Nadia said. – In any case the uses for it are limited. I would speculate it's only interesting as a research object.

Nah… I don't think so. For that they wouldn't fly it all the way to japan. – Asuka said.

Adams core have been destroyed during the second impact this is certain. So whatever remained of his body is no longer different from his clones. – Nadia said.

What about Adams soul? – Asuka asked. – Haven't you said that your people have separated his soul from his body? If that is so how could the Anti AT-Field have been generated during the second impact in the first place?

Yes, that's in fact quite a conundrum. – Nadia said – One possibility is that SEELE performed a contact experiment attempting to turn Adam himself into a puppet like an EVA. The other possibility is that they in fact tried to reintroduce Adams soul to his body, which would have been extraordinarily negligent and dangerous.

Hmm… on another subject, I was reviewing the data you gave me on Lilith and noticed that she apparently does not have a core. – Asuka said – So how can she generate an AT-Field and those be of use to the angels?

Well, creating an effectively immortal creature, Adam, did not played out to well. – Nadia said – So the new model my ancestors created was designed to have a limited lifespan. We infused Lilith with a significant amount of core energy enough to defeat Adam and enough to do what she was created to do.

But if Adam has an inexhaustible energy source how could Lilith be stronger than him? – Asuka asked.

Because while Adam could generate energy he could generate only a specific amount per unit time, his peek output was about a hundred GW that's about two orders of magnitude above what an angel is capable of generating. Lilith on the other hand had about a few hundred PJ (peta joule 10^15) of core energy at her disposal, and she could handle all of it at once.

That is… that is…. WTF…. How much energy does she have left? – Asuka asked.

To be honest we don't know. She was never intended to exist for longer than a few hundred years. But after my ancestors plan was scrapped she never got to use it up. – Nadia said.

We think that she may have between 40 and 70 percent of energy still left. – Trax added

You said to me that Rei is "in some sense Lilith" and SEELE tried to inject her with this nanites recently… what is she exactly? – Asuka asked – Does that mean that she can access all that core energy?

It's complicated, in a sense Rei is Lilith yet she is not. – Nadia said – She has Liliths soul but until recently she was not able to access any memories from her previous live.

About accessing the core energy, her body was created from Lilith's flesh so she possesses some of it. – Trax said – About the amount an angel could accumulate in a few years of not doing anything but generating energy that is if they would have been able to store that much energy. What they are not infect angels can't store much of it for long.

As you know already I was helping her fixing all the genetic errors NERV caused in the process of her creation as well as helping her getting a grip on her special abilities, she made quite a progress but for now she can't willingly create a meaningful AT field. – Nadia said – But we are working on that.

Do you have any plans to recover what's still left in Lilith's old body? – Asuka asked.

Yes but we have to wait; for once so we don't raise suspicions by making Lilith disappear form Terminal dogma, being the only one with interdimensional Tech we are kind of the default suspect if large things just vanish. – Trax said

And we want to recover that energy with Rei's help as this would be the safety way, but she will be in a few weeks hopefully. – Nadia added

Ok, I see… and have you found out how these nanites from SEELE were supposed to work? – Asuka asked.

Still working out the details, but to what I can tell when activated they convert core energy into an Anti AT Field which than breaks down the host body into a sort of premortal goo. – Trax said – From the amount they wanted to inject her with its likely that they intended it to be a contingency for the case she would merge with the rest of her old Body.

But that…. That would cause all the energy Lilith head left to be released, at once. – Asuka said.

Yes, they apparently prefer an a few ten MT explosion to whatever would be the alternative. – Trax said.

A week later, a US branch of NERV started an activation test of EVA unit 04, equipped with an experimental S2 engine.

Something terrible just happened. – Nadia said

Huh? What do you mean? – Asuka asked.

An event like the second impact. – Nadia said.

What?! – Asuka asked.

Trax grabbed a tablet and looked on the real-time feed from the satellites. – NERV's second US branch just vanished.

I overheard the commanders talking about an activation test in the US sometime this week. – Rei said.

Asuka looked on the replay from the satellite feeds and asked. – Could this happen to my EVA as well?

According to our UN sources they were supposed to test unit 04 with an experimental S2 engine from Germany. – Trax said. – An EVA powered electrically would not be able to output this much energy.

How could that happen? Everything in a radius of 100 kilometers just vanished. – Asuka asked.

Apparently unit 04 generated a very strong Anti-AT field strong enough, not only to destroy the cohesion of biological tissue, but to disintegrate solid matter. – Nadia said.

And that because of the experimental power source? – Asuka asked.

Possibly… – Trax said.

In the morning in the NERV HQ, on the screen in the command center a replay of the incident was shown to brief the staff of what happened.

That is terrible. – Misato said.

At 13:00 local time, Evangelion unit 4, its support and all the facilities within an 89 km radios were completely destroyed. – Lieutenant Ibuki reported.

Looking on the time schedule, it seems they were testing the experimental S2 engine. – Aoba said.

What could cause such a catastrophic failure? – Lieutenant Hyuga asked.

At this point it's unknown, sabotage is however a possibility. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

In all probability the AT field generated destroyed the structural integrity of all the matter in the affected area. – Dr. Akagi said.

Is there anything left? What about the reconstructed S2 Organ? – Misato asked.

It's all gone. – Ritsuko answered.

All that because we are forced to use things we don't understand. – Misato said.

Well, you're not! – Trax objected – With our fusion reactors you can power an EVA indefinitely there is no apparent need to continue developing S2 technology.

It was a political decision. – Dr. Akagi said.

Later that day in Misatos office.

US just withdrew all funding to the remaining NERV branch and demand an imminent shutdown of the EVA project on their soil. – Dr. Akagi said.

What will happen with unit 03? – Misato asked.

They want it gone ASAP, it will be flown to japan tomorrow and should arrive the day after. – Ritsuko said.

Hmm… first they insisted on building units 03 and 04, than they can't get rid of it fast enough. – Misato said.

After a disaster like that, anyone would get nervous. – Dr. Akagi said.

How are you going to test the new unit? – Misato asked.

We will use the pilot of the provisional unit 05 which was decommissioned recently. – Ritsuko said.

Mari Illustrious? – Misato said.

Yes, she will arrive tomorrow. – Ritsuko said.

In the evening on Trax and Nadias apartment balcony.

Cool I'll finally meet the 4th child. – Asuka said.

You really think she will be so much different than Shinji? – Trax asked. – Or for that matter than the rest of the candidates?

Well, I can hope… – Asuka sighed. – learning that all these idiots from Shinjis class are all potential pilots surely was a bummer.

They are not so bad. – Trax said. – When you had to attend the class for a week didn't you somewhat even befriend this Hikari Girl?

That was just an experiment in social engineering. – Asuka said.

I don't think that's entirely true. – Trax said.

Hmm… I suppose I enjoyed some normal life a little bit. – Asuka said. – But that does not change the fact that such ordinary people with their mundane concerns are beneath me.

I mean she was preoccupied with makeup and fashion and wither this guy she liked has noticed her…, that so boring. – Asuka continued.

Well if that helps I don't think Mari will be boring. You remember the dossier I showed you some weeks ago I got from a contact in the UN? – Trax asked.

Yea… what's up with that? – Asuka said.

It appears that aside of the training at the SAS all other entries were fake. – Trax said. – Although really good fakes.

So what is she a spy like 007 from your old movies? – Asuka asked – Anyhow, aren't you in the least excited to meet another EVA pilot?

Well I'm more excited about having an additional EVA to fight the angels. – Trax said – The attacks of these creatures are becoming more and more elaborate.

You are worried that they may pull something off that we can't fight? – Asuka asked. – Don't you have some sort of contingency in place?

We have, but the expected collateral damage may be huge. – Trax said.

What is your contingency plan anyhow? – Asuka asked.

It's secret. – Trax said.

Ah come one you can tell me. – Asuka said. – After all we've done together I can't believe you don't trust me.

Well you are right. – Trax said. – But you know you should always limit the amount of people knowing sensitive secrets. Hence the question is not: do I see a reason for you not knowing it; but rather: do I see a reason that would necessitate you knowing it.

That's so awfully pragmatic; don't you always say one should make more emotional decisions to have more fun in life. – Asuka argued.

Hehe… well yea, but usually man kinds faith does not hang in the balance. – Trax said.

Nadia came to the balcony and said. – We will consider it; perhaps it's time to tell you.

The next day at the HERV HQ, Misato entered the command room together with the new pilot Mari Illustrious

May I introduce; our new pilot Mari Illustrious. – Misato said. – Mari; these three here are the other pilots Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley and Shinji Ikari.

Hi! Nice to meet you. – Mari said.

Likewise. – Asuka said – Finally someone capable to help me fight this angel plague.

I'm glad that you are so excited Asuka, as from now on you will be sharing your flat with our new comer. – Misato said

What?! – Asuka said. – Emm… Yea why not will be fun.

Most definitely! – Mari said enthusiastic – And who are these two?

Trax and Nadia, they are freelance consultants. – Misato said.

Oh, the once with the Taelon Tec? – Mari asked.

Yea, that's us. – Nadia said.

You came up with the plan for me to grill the angel, right? – Mari asked – The NERV bureaucrats would never come up with something so brilliantly reckless.

You give us to munch credit, Misato cam also up with quite a few marvelously reckless plans of her own. – Trax said

Thanks? – Misato said.

Hehe… yea from Trax that is a compliment. – Nadia said smirking.

If you like I can show you the base and the city. – Asuka said.

Awesome. – Mari said.

Unit 03 arrived in Matsushiro in the morning of the next day.

You came home awfully late yesterday. – Nadia said.

I wanted you to come with us. – Asuka said.

Ah…. You know I don't enjoy such activities. – Nadia said.

You should try, at least every 100 years. – Asuka said smirking.

May be next time. – Nadia said.

So what do you think about this Mari person? – Trax asked.

I haven't made up my mind yet, but she's definitely interesting – Asuka said.

That sounds promising – Trax said.

Have you found out something about her past why she joined NERV. – Nadia asked.

Yea quite a bit, apparently her father was working for NERV before an accident about 2 years ago. – Asuka said.

What happened to her father? – Nadia asked – Also do you got any hints on his identity? The documents we could get as you know were all fakes.

His name was Harry Illustrious and he apparently died in an accident at NERV's 1st US branch. – Asuka said. – Seams Mari followed in his footsteps joining NERV.

I don't know…. I mean who gets a year of special ops training after such a tragedy? – Trax asked.

So what do you think? – Asuka asked.

To me that sounds like vengeance. – Trax said

You think she holds NERV responsible for the accident? – Asuka asked

Well may be it wasn't an accident. – Nadia said

It's quite clear from what we gathered that she had help from the British MI5, her fake identity is very high quality. Not many Agencies could pull that of nowadays. – Trax said.

So may be her father was a British spy and NERV orchestrated the accident? – Asuka asked

Could be, Trax said. I will reach out to some of my contacts in the British intelligence community to see if I can find an agent that was "retired" 2 years ago and was stationed in the American empire. – Trax said

But that's great! Right? – Asuka said – If that's the case she can be a valuable ally to dwarf NERV and SEELE's plans for human instrumentality.

Possibly, but of cause we have to be careful. – Trax said

Afternoon in Ritsukos office.

Unit 03 appears in good shape, no transport damages or other apparent issues… – Ritsuko said.

Great! – Misato interrupted – So we can test the unit already tomorrow?

Not quite, I'd like the neural interfaces to be upgraded to our standards before that. – Ritsuko said.

Wait, but shouldn't unit 03 be the most modern unit after 04 blew up? – Misato asked.

For the most part it is, but parts of the work our Taelon friends did for us are proprietary. – Ritsuko said.

Ok, pilot safety takes of cause precedence, when do you think will we be able to do a test run? – Misato asked.

Nadia works pretty quickly, but since we have to validate all the changes ourselves it may take up to a week. – Ritsuko said.

Can't we test the unit with this dummy plug of yours? – Misato asked. – What's the progress on that anyways?

The system is still experimental so we intent to use it for now only as backup. – Ritsuko said – We are finishing a prototype to be installed in unit 01 but it's delayed a bit due to all the recent interface changes. I think it will be ready in a few weeks.

In the evening in Misatos apartment, she invited all the pilots and our protagonists for dinner, Shinji cooked.

So what can you tell me about my new EVA, unit 03? – Mari asked.

It should be the most modern Evangelion. – Misato said. – Its armor plating is 20% lighter yet provides the same protection; also there have been many improvements on the backup power allowing it to operate for up to 8 minutes without external power.

About that; external power; supposedly your EVAs don't need any external power at all. – Mari said. – At least that's what I heard.

That's a matter of definition; we have an external power pack that supplies the Evangelion with electrical power. – Misato said.

So that's why the US branch was still researching the angel's native power source. – Mari said.

That's really a waste of time and as we have seen dangerous. – Trax said.

I wonder if the exploded unit was 04 and your old provisional unit was 06 than there must be a unit 05 right? – Shinji asked.

Yea I heard rumors that NERV's newest branch in Beijing is manufacturing an EVA, a few cranial parts for unit 06 were made in china. – Mari said. – Right Misato?

I have no idea unfortunately my clearance only covers the Japanese branches. – Misato said.

Hmm… if unit 04 was a failed prototype for a standalone model, than it's possible that NERV intents unit 05 to have a working S2 engine. – Nadia speculated.

That would be great! – Mari said. – Do you think our EVAs will be retrofitted with the new power sources?

Well it would be a very hard to stop weapon, I don't think it's a good idea to give such a thing to a human. – Trax said.

We have to defend ourselves from the angels. – Mari said.

Well one day the angels will be gone and I'm pretty sure mankind will fight and quarrel about whom will be in control of the EVAs. – Trax said. – Could be even the starting point for yet another world war.

You think the angel's will be gone in the foreseeable future? – Shinji asked.

I think there is only a limited amount out there, given mankind's progress in exploring the planet and the angel's age there could have been only be a handful to begin with otherwise they would have been discovered much earlier. – Trax said

I see, that's good isn't it, that means our fighting days may soon be over. – Shinji said.

Ah no, I just got to join the fight and it is supposed to soon be over?! – Mari said – That's no fun.

Do you enjoy killing sentient beings? – Nadia asked.

I have enjoyed the fight, defanging mankind feels good. – Mari asked. – Besides what makes you think these creatures are sentient?

Given how different they all are, it stands to argue that they shaped their bodies intentionally. – Nadia said – And given the level of sophistication they must have not just raw intelligence but also quite a lot of knowledge.

You think? – Mari asked. – So why don't they communicate with us.

And say what? – Misato interrupted – "Hi could we please take the elevator to terminal dogma to end life on earth as you know it."

Really?! – Mari said – So what's down there?

The next day; Nadia arrived in Matsushiro to work on the entry plug systems. Maya and a couple of engineers from Ritsuko's division accompany her.

So where do we start? – Maya asked.

First we must examine the A10 connection protocols, to what I got from the incomplete documentation we received; the US branch was developing some filters of their own. – Nadia said. – Also since the physical layer is not compatible with the one our entry plugs use we will have to upgrade all the neural interface hardware in the new entry plug.

Can't we just adapt one of the modified plugs we have to work with the new unit? – Lieutenant Ibuki asked.

Well, can you? – Nadia asked cynically. – I'm not allowed to work on the EVA's neural subsystems directly, which include the physical connection between the plug and the EVA.

Emm… Well … this connection goes directly into the EVA's cerebral cortex... – Lieutenant Ibuki tried to explain.

You are being too paranoid about that… I mean if I would be up to something I could render the unit inoperable only through the systems I have access to… – Nadia argued.

If the commanders would assume you want to inflict damage you wouldn't have access to the EVA's in the first place… - Lieutenant Ibuki said.

Right! So what are you trying to hide? – Nadia asked bluntly.

Nothing, it's just you know… proprietary technology. – Lieutenant Ibuki tried to argue.

So you think that in this butchered together cybernetic machines of yours, is any technology that would be novel to an alien that commands living ships and can grow buildings? – Nadia asked – Really?

Umm... – Lieutenant Ibuki said trying to find a valid justification.

You don't even know if you have any secrets we not already know, you know. – Nadia said provocatively – May be all your caution only results on you missing out on improvements and me wasting time having to work around the set limitations.

But if you knew … – Maya said and then stopped.

Knew what? – Nadia asked.

Nothing…. – Maya tried to evade. – Anyhow, the unit is still fitted with the termination plug, should we install the entry plug or do you want to work on it offline.

It's faster when the systems are up. – Nadia said.

The group is about to entered units 03 cage, Nadia stopped the instance the last shielded hatch opened.

You know what, since the docs were incomplete, it's probably safer to examine the entry plug offline first. Bring the entry plug to the basement assembly room. – Nadia said.

Emm… Ok – Maya said; it was very unlike Nadia to change her mind on something without a reason.

I'm preparing the diagnostic gear and some auxiliary power source and meet you there. – Nadia added and returned to the elevator.

That can't be true. – Trax thought

I know what I felt! – Nadia argued – There is an angel in this room!

How can this be possible? – Trax asked. – Unit 03 was assembled from in vitro tissue cultures like the others.

I don't think it's the EVA it is still shutdown and in cryostasis. – Nadia thought – In this state it would be completely dormant, but this think in there was conscious.

You think the creature infested the new unit? – Trax asked.

Yes, the angel we encountered last tried to physically merge with unit 00, which failed due to the AT field protecting the unit. – Nadia thought.

Right; and this unit lacking a pilot doesn't have an active AT field. – Trax thought.

Hmm… if this is what really happened than first the creature must have a rather small body volume, but second what would it try to accomplish? – Trax asked.

May be it just wanted more body mass, but then why wouldn't it just grow it like the other angels. – Nadia speculated.

May be it can't, we did not notice any energy signatures typical for an angel, may be this one have some issues with his power source. – Trax thought.

We can sort this out later! – Nadia argued – We have to inform NERV and take action.

Damn it! – Nadia thought – We need a plausible explanation how we detected the infestation.

I'll review our satellite feeds if I can find or plausibly fabricate something. – Trax thought.

Half an hour later in Neo Tokio-3

That's horrific! – Asuka said after being briefed of what happened. – Why hasn't Nadia returned ASAP, isn't it dangerous to stay there?

Dangerous for whom? Nadia can defend herself even from such a creature. – Trax said.

Right you said she helped Rei with the last angel. – Asuka said. – Still if the angel would to sense her presence it may attack and that would blow your cover right? I mean what possibly reason would the creature have to attack some Taelone emissary?

Indeed that course of events can't be excluded, although the EVA cage is heavily shielded, as long as Nadia does not enter the creature should remain oblivious to her proximity. – Trax speculated.

If Nadia really can destroy an angel just like that, why doesn't she? Why do we have to fight these creatures? – Asuka asked?

Well, it's complicated; Nadia can't get blood on her hands. – Trax said – These creatures are sentient, they may not have minds like humans yet they are just as complex.

Can't or won't?! – Asuka asked.

An explanation would require too much back story, we don't have time for that right now. – Trax said.

And what about you? – Asuka asked.

You know that she and I share a psychic link; hence I should also abstain from the direct use of deadly force. – Trax explained.

Ah, but it is find let me or Rei do the killing? – Asuka asked.

Well, if its justified than yes. – Trax said.

I'll let that slide for now, but you owe me an explanation later… – Asuka said.

About an hour later.

Have you found something that would allow us to notify NERV? – Asuka asked

No, all the scans are inconspicuous. – Trax said – The cargo plane traveled for some time through a heavy storm, which interfered with the sensor readings.

I may have something. – Asuka said – Look on this cargo manifest from the US branch, the weight of the EVA was within specs when it left the US, but when we received it its weight was about 5% higher.

And no one thought of investigating that discrepancy? – Trax asked?

Well the US still uses imperial units, probably on our end no one cared to really compare the values. – Asuka speculated.

Hmm…. ok so we know that the angel infected unit 03 during the transport, probably when it was passing the storm clouds. – Trax said – Only than were the turbulences so strong that the appearance of so much excess weight could go unnoticed.

So what do we do next? – Asuka asked. – We should tell Misato, she can order the unit to be thoroughly examined without explanations other than a general distrust towards the yanks.

We can't disclose Nadia's origin to anyone. – Trax said.

We don't have to. We just say: you used a cloaked Taelon probe to run some illegal scans on the unit and found something suspicious. – Asuka suggested.

That's risky I mean we would have to show her some data. And what if what she later finds is completely different. – That would be suspicious.

So make it true, send a probe. – Asuka said.

Right, and if NERV detects it than we get ourselves knee deep into troubles. – Trax said. – We need a less risky option.

How likely is that? – Asuka asked. – I mean your tech is eons ahead of what NERV has.

Still it's within the realm of possibility; the test cage is full of scanners and other diagnostic gear. – Trax said – I'd rather don't take the risk.

Ok, so let's use their scanners. – Asuka said.

Yea, thought about that but their on an air gapped system controlled by MAGI 2. – Trax said – Well that is unless we physically break in and install a relay.

And how is that less of a risk of screwing up your relations with NERV than sending in a cloaked drone of some sort? – Asuka asked.

Trax smirked. – Oh… I thought I won't be the one doing the breaking and entering. I think you would make a magnificent cat burglar.

How about I just report the weight discrepancy to Misato should be reason enough to thoroughly check out the new unit. – Asuka suggested.

Hmm… I guess it's worth a try. – Trax said – I can fabricate some data showing the cargo plane gaining a few dozen tons during its travel through the storm, some move data point operations should be enough for that or may be a slightly creative approach to error margins.

Later in Misatos office, Asuka briefed Misato about the weight discrepancy.

So what, it's surly just a clerical error. – Misato said.

No its not, Trax examined for me the recorded trajectory of the cargo plane and it appears that the excess weight was gained during the flight. – Asuka said.

At minute 234 after takeoff the plane drops quite significantly during its flight, with the atmospheric data at hand it's highly unlikely that this had natural causes. – Trax said.

So you think the EVA grew some additional body mass? – Misato asked – That's not possible the unit was and still is in cryostasis.

That's correct, by I think it was an external influence; do you remember what the last angel tried?... – Trax said.

Shit! You think the unit got hijacked by an angel?! – Misato asked

That is a possibility, one that should not be taken lightly. – Trax said.

You should order a thorough scan of the unit and compare it with the construction data you got from the US. – Asuka said.

I'll order it ASAP. – Misato said.

5 hours later in Matsushiro.

This is a waste of time. – Ritsuko said. – If there would be an angel inside our sensors would have picked it up by now.

The unit gained over 50 tons during its flight, which needs an explanation. – Misato said. – What's the worst case if the unit really has been hijacked?

I guess we could lose this base and of cause the pilot. – Ritsuko said.

Yea and on top of that we would have to fight an EVA. – Misato argued.

Lieutenant Ibuki interrupted the argument. – We are half done with the tomographic scan; we have found a dense mass of unknown origin leached onto units 03 Core.

What?! – Ritsuko said.

Sound the alarm! Evacuate all non-essential personal! ASAP! – Misato ordered.

Ritsuko finished reviewing the scans. – Damn it that really could be an angel but it's strange it does not appear to have a core on its own.

Nadia entered. – What's up? I heard the alarm, what's the problem?

It looks like unit 03 may have been infected by an angel. – Ritsuko said.

Can I look on the scans? – Nadia asked.

The angel is close to the core; this part is proprietary. – Ritsuko said.

May be we should make an exception, if that's really an angel we need all the help we can get. – Maya argued.

First we will run some more scans and I'll talk to the commanders, if we really have an angel infestation on our hands we will consider it. – Ritsuko said. – For now please leave the command room.

Maya setup a data link to MAGI 1 and let's run the rest of the checks from our HQ. – Ritsuko ordered.

An hour later in commander Ikaris office, Ritsuko briefed the commanders and left awaiting their decision.

Why are you even entertaining the thought of allowing Trax and Nadia access to the scans and information's about the cores? – Sub commander Fuyutsuki asked.

For once this situation was absolutely unexpected this course of events was not foretold in the Qumran scrolls, we may need all the help we can get. – Commander Ikari answered. – Also I don't think they could learn anything that would make them suspicious of our true intentions.

What if this information's is all they are after and they helping us is just a scheme to obtain them? – Fuyutsuki argued – In the end what the Taelons were after was when they came to earth was a way to create core energy and for what we can tell it's the same kind of energy that drives our EVAs.

True, but I think if this would be their ultimate goal they would just have stolen an EVA and reverse engineered it. – Ikari said – However since they did not, this suggests that they really intent to save mankind.

And this is an even bigger threat for the human instrumentality project. – Fuyutsuki concluded. – And are you willing to take that risk?

From the information's about the cores themselves they can't deduce our real plans so I think the risk is acceptable. – Ikari said.

In the meantime in the NERV HQ in Trax's lab

What's going on why has everyone been evacuated from Matsushiro? – Mari asked

Your new EVA has a small infection. – Asuka said.

What?! – Mari asked.

It appears an angel hijacked it during transport. – Asuka said.

Shit! So what are you going to do about it? – Mari asked.

We will see if the commanders allow access to the scan data to Trax and Nadia, apparently the angel is pretty close to the core and in the past they tried to keep any information's about this a secret. – Asuka said.

Ritsuko entered. – I have good news; commander Ikari has approved giving your access to the unredacted scans of units 03 torso, as well as information's on the S2 technology.

Great! – Trax said – So let's go to work.

Has the status of the Angel or unit 03 changed? – Nadia asked.

No, the angel appears to be waiting for something we have not observed any activities. – Ritsuko said.

Later in the HQ's Command center, Nadia is reviewing the scans while Trax browses through the docs on the S2 technology and EVA core schematics.

Misato approached. – So have you found out something already?

Yes we now know why NERV's cores don't work… – Trax said – …and we have a good guess about the angel's intentions.

The angel is capable of generating small quantities of core energy, but it is orders of magnitude less than what other angels are capable of. And it indeed appears that the creature is lacking a core of its own. – Nadia explained – We think that the angel is trying to merge with unit 03 in order to get a hold of a core.

That sounds bad, how much time do we have? – Misato asked

To what I can say it seems we have plenty. – Trax said

Why's that?! – Misato asked.

As you know unit's 03's core is not capable of standalone operation and it appears the angel is not capable of fixing it as it is. – Trax said – We think that in order to fix it, it first needs to be powered on.

Ok, so as long as we don't activate unit 03 we are in the clear. – Misato said – That's good to know, but how do we get rid of this thing?

Since the angel core and its core energy levels are minimal it can't use an AT Field to aid or support its biological functions. – Trax said

We could try to kill it the way you kill living tissue, a fair comparison would be to see it as a cancer, although a sentient one. – Asuka said – We could try to poison it, although these things have a superior immune system so that probably would fail. hmm… we could try to irradiate it; there is only so much abuse a cell can take before it dies.

Are you sure the angel can't fight back? – Misato asked.

We never said that. – Trax said – But its offensive capabilities are probably not a threat to us. And it would have to leave unit 03 for that so that's actually good.

And when it is out how do we kill it? – Misato asked – With all other angels we just went for destroying the core, what do we do with this one? Just blast it with energy weapons until its fully incinerated?

Yea just kill it with fire or something similar should work fine. – Trax said.

The best would be if we freeze the sucker and then cut it out and put it into an incinerator while it still can't move. – Mari suggested.

Misato went for Dr. Akagi and told her the ideas.

So do you think we could freeze it? – Misato asked.

The angel appears not to like cold too much from what I can tell while the EVA's body is at 2°C the angel keeps a steady body temperature of about 15°C – Ritsuko said. – So to freeze it we would need to cool down the EVA below the freezing point what would cause a lot of tissue damage.

Well we could try to cool it only locally though. – Lieutenant Ibuki suggested – Like a Cryosurgery in a Cancer Treatment, we could inject liquid nitrogen or even liquid helium directly into the angel mass.

That could work. – Dr. Akagi said.

Ok, so let's do it! – Misato said.

Prepare everything for tomorrow, if we don't come up with a batter plan till than we proceed with this one. – Ritsuko said.

In the evening in Trax's and Nadia's apartment.

Earlier today you said that you know how the cores work. – Misato said.

Yes. – Trax answered.

Ok, explain! – Misato said.

An angel's core is composed of a porous crystalline structure infused with its living cells. The material commonly referred to as angel core matter is a crystal formed from a short lived isotope of element 176. This material acts as a sort of catalyst for the cells to generate orders of magnitude more core energy than they would normally be capable of producing. – Trax explained – To this point NERVs cores work like real Angel cores, but while NERV has to pour in hundreds of megawatts of power; the Angel cores can seemingly violate the energy conservation and run indefinitely without an external energy influx.

So what is the problem? – Misato asked. – Why are our cores not working as they should?

Well while NERV got the microstructure of the core right, the macrostructure is however all wrong. – Trax said. – Although I guess with the broken core they were trying to reassembly and run in unit 04 they now should have an idea how it all is supposed to work.

And how it is supposed to work? – Misato asked.

The macrostructure of the core acts as a resonant Anti-AT-Field amplifier. – Trax pulled up a 3D model on a screen. – In these cavities the field strength is so high that it can break down matter into energy.

It's kind of like an antimatter reactor, just that it does not require any antimatter to turn matter back into energy. – Trax said – Well and it has a ridiculously high conversion efficiency.

And NERV did not know about that? – Misato asked

I can imagine that they in fact did not. – Trax said. – They probably could only analyze small samples of Adams core but to understand the mechanism you need to observe the entire thing.

But didn't they do that before the explosion? – Misato asked.

Sure but having no understanding of the physics behind the mechanism they did not know what to look for. – Trax explained. – It's in fact quite difficult to detect mater to energy conversion occurring with such a high efficiency, with current technology the only signs of that would be a relatively strong neutrino flux.

Also Adam's core probably was not in operation when they were studying it. – Nadia added

I see. – Misato said – So what do you think happened when they tried to power on Unit 04 with the reconstructed core?

Probably they slightly messed up some of the geometries, and the amplified Anti-AT-Field got projected outwards. – Nadia said – Covering a large area it couldn't break down matter into energy but was still strong enough to break all chemical bonds.

Where does NERV get this element 176? I mean it's not naturally occurring right? – Misato asked.

Yes indeed, well not on earth anyways. – Nadia said – We would really like to find out how, they obtained such vast quantities.

Couldn't they found it some ware? – Misato asked. – I mean on an asteroid from another solar system or something?

No not this particular isotope. – Nadia said – From all the isotopes of this element this one is the easiest to create artificially, but also has the shortest half live of 60 years.

Wait, but the angels, you said, are 12 thousand years old, how is that possible? – Misato asked.

An active AT Field stabilizes the isotope so as long as the angel is alive its core does not decay. – Nadia said.

The next day in Matsushiro, unit 02 got equipped with a large tank of LN2 (Liquid nitrogen) and a handheld injection device. As well as a sort of improvised hazmat suit. Unit 00 has been placed nearby with the positron gun.

So Asuka, listen. – Misato said – We are going to open the hanger doors of unit 03 cage and unit 02 will be let down on a cable winch from the transport crane previously used to move unit 03 into place. You will use your prog-knife to remove a small portion of the chest armor plating of unit 03.

I have adapted some AR (Augmented Reality) surgery software to work with the cage's CT scanners so you should see the exact location of the angel overlaid on the normal image. – Nadia said.

You must inject the LN2 into the center of the angel mass through the opening you created. – Misato continued – Once its frozen solid we will blow the bolts holding the chest plating, than use the prog-knife to separate it from the EVA's body starting at the core. Once you got out what as much as you could connect a second rope to the units 03 transport harness, we will than pull booth units out and flood the cage with liquid oxygen that should incinerate everything down there.

Please be careful Asuka and keep an eye on the frozen biomass you remove from unit 03 it is possible that the angel may try to defrost itself in which case you need to reapply more LN2. – Nadia added.

Yea I know. – Asuka said – This plan is a really hail Mary.

It's reasonably safe; if anything goes wrong we will pull you out and incinerate the angel and unit 03. – Dr. Akagi said.

Oh no, no no no! You are not destroying my new EVA – Mari said.

Don't worry Mari. – Asuka said – I'm an expert angel slayer your EVA is in good hands.

Ok, let's start. – Misato said – Rei are you in position?

Yes. – Rei said over the coms.

Good, Aoba open the hanger doors. – Misato ordered.

Unit 02 slowly descended into the cage. – I'm on the floor, now proceeding with cutting a whole into the armor plating. Did the angel grow? I can clearly see some deformation in the chest plating.

No, but it moved closer to the core in the last few hours. – Nadia said. – Please be carefully.

Asuka successfully created a large enough opening to fit the LN2 injector through without damaging units 03 biological components what might have alerted the angel. – Ok I'm in position.

Do it! – Misato ordered. Asuka set the depth to which to extent the injection nozzle and triggered the device.

Through the EVA cage echoed an unearthly scream. Tentacles sprang from underneath unit 03 armored trying to get a hold of unit 02 but Asuka could easily defend them of using her EVAs AT field.

That looks good Asuka! – Nadia said – Already 80% of the center mass is frozen.

The Tentacles stopped moving and sagged to the ground.

That should be enough Asuka – Dr. Akagi said. – We don't want to inflict unnecessary damage onto unit 03.

Unit 02 retracted the LN2 injector and stepped back from unit 03. Than Dr. Akagi ordered – Blow the retention bolts. – Small explosions shook the cage and units 03 chest plate fell to the flor exposing the view onto the core and the parts of the angel close to the EVAs skin.

Locate all larger aggregations of angel tissue using the AR overlay and inject them with LN2 like the center mass. – Misato said.

About 20 minutes later Asuka said – That should be the last one. – And pulled out the prog-knife – Now proceeding with removing the angel from unit 03.

Actually removing the frozen angel tissue was harder than expected, it took whole 3 hours and it was necessary to refreeze the tissue a few times in-between. Through all that procedure the angel however remained dormant, possibly already killed by the cold.

Ok that should be the last piece. – Asuka said.

Good, connect the secondary cable to unit's 03 harness and get out of there. – Misato ordered.

Than units 02 and 03 were retrieved form the cage and moved into a safe distance.

That welt surprisingly well. – Misato said – Pour in the liquid oxygen.

The resulting fire was quite spectacular and expensive all the equipment in the cage was toast not only the angel remains of cause.

In the evening in Misatos apartment. Misato invited everyone for dinner, again. This time also Dr. Ritsuko Akagi and lieutenant Maya Ibuki

So what's the status of my unit 03 – Mari asked – When will it be repaired?

That will take some weeks; we have to check every component for possible remaining angel tissue. – Ritsuko said.

Also we are still not done with the entry plug modifications. – Maya added.

These we can do in parallel to the auditing. – Nadia said.

Anyhow Asuka, you gig your job really well – Ritsuko said – Like a real surgeon.

Ah please, that was easy I took some advanced courses during my studies of electrophysiology in Heidelberg – Asuka said.


	19. The Ultimative Angel (19)

Dr. Akagi and her staff are briefing the commanders on the status of unit 03 and the repairs on unit 00 after yesterday's angel extraction procedure

We have completed assessing the damages to unit 03, surprisingly they are not very severe, we should have it operational in a week or two. – Dr. Akagi said.

Good and what's the progress on unit 00, it's still not operational – The commander asked.

We had to remove more tissue than expected in the lower spine region due contamination with angel matter. – Maya reported – The neural connections are all repaired but we are still regenerating the muscle tissue, the unit is in Principe operational just quite handicapped for the next few days.

A red colored phone rang on the commander's desk; the commander picked it up listened and just said. – I see. – And hang up.

As it looks we don't have a few days the UN just detected another angel approaching close to japans shore line. – The commander said. – They are going to try to deal with it using N2 mines.

Shortly thereafter in NERVs command center.

The Angel was detected at 14:20 by a UN submarine on a routine patrol of the coast. – Lieutenant Aoba said – 15 minutes later the UN Secretary-General ordered the deployment of N2 mines against the target.

The main screen showed a huge explosion near to the shore line. Followed by an energy beam emerging from the epicenter; striking down the bomber plane which dropped the N2 device. The angel emerged on the surface and started levitating above it, continuing its way to Neo Tokio-3.

Not even a scratch. – Lieutenant Hyuga said.

The UN should have waited for us. – Asuka said – We would have destroyed it right away.

Since they detected it first, they wanted to take care of it on their own. – The sub commander said. – Appearing powerless against these opponents surly scratches on their ego quite a lot.

How could the creature approach so close without us noticing? – Commander Ikari asked.

Well, the angels express a surprisingly high dimorphism. – Trax said – Before it activated its AT field to defend of the N2 mines it did not emit any discernable or strong energy signature. – This is quite atypical other angels were more wasteful with their energy, given that the creature was not measurably affected by the large explosion, it stands to argue that is handles its energy resources more efficient than the other angels.

So you saying it may be a difficult opponent to fight? – Misato asked.

Yes, that is unfortunately so, the creature already demonstrated impeccable defensive capabilities as well as a pretty effective long range offensive capabilities. – Nadia said.

Great and we have only two EVA's operational. – Misato said.

We will us unit 00 as well. – The commander said – We have to stop the angel at all cost.

Well at its current pace the angel will arrive in Neo Tokio in about 3,5 hours. – Aoba said.

Two hours later, Misato is instructing the pilots on the strategy.

We will try out our new Taelon glass based weapons on this one. – Misato said.

Rei, we will post your EVA on the hills beside the city with a long range sniper weapon. – She continued – With the current state of your EVA a close combat is not an option.

How much munition do I get? – Rei asked.

You will have 5 bullets, so make each shot count. – Misato said.

Asuka, Shinji, your units have already been equipped with deployable arm shields now we have a chance to test them, according to Trax that should be resilient to the angels energy weapon. – Misato said.

How sure are you about that? - Shinji asked.

We have antagonized the angel with one of our probes which is protected with Taelon glass, and it could attenuate the beam by about 70% as well as defusing it quite substantially. – Nadia said.

What about weapons? – Asuka asked.

We have implemented 6 grenade style weapons, for mid-range combat. – Trax said – You can throw them at the angel and trigger by timer or remotely; they projects spikes outwards which are not hindered by the angels AT Field and can inflict significant damage.

What if one of us is to close? – Shinji asked.

Given that it's a smart weapon it should not project anything in the direction of identified EVA units. – Trax said – But just to be sure don't bet on it, if the scanners are faulty the device will work indiscriminately.

What else did you get ready to go? – Asuka asked.

We have your rail gun and 20 projectiles. – Trax said. – As well as two lances with Taelon glass tips, that can be extended up to a hundred meters each.

Misato brought up a map of the city surroundings. – You will intercept the angel here. – She said and pointed to the map – Before you engage the Angel directly we will try the long range weapons.

30 minutes later at the designated ambush location.

The angel is approaching, it looks humanoid with short legs and vestigial arms, its core is placed prominently on its solar plexus region and it has a large bone mask on its head.

Unit 02 in position. – Asuka said over the coms.

Em.. Unit 01 also in position. – Shinji said.

Unit 00 in positions, target acquired. – Rei said holding the angel in the crosshairs of units 00 riffle.

I have programed the projectile to target the creature's core. – Trax said.

Rei, fire. – Misato ordered and unit 00 fired.

The projectile impacted on the angels AT field and projected a bolt of virtual Taelon glass towards the Angels core. However it appeared it could not breach it.

Damn it, the energy field of the core is messing with the beam collimation. – Trax said. – It appears we can't maintain enough coherence for the holographic projection to remain focused.

Rei, plan B immobilize the angel shot through its belly. – Misato ordered.

Unit 00 fired two shots, this time the virtual glass pierced the angel, booth projectiles deployed spikes through the angel and cone they struck the ground reshaped to anchor in the ground.

The angel roared trying to rip himself free.

This stuff is useless if it can't deliver a final blow. – Asuka said over the coms.

The creature than projected an energy beam from its eyed destroying one of the projectiles. Unit 02 threw two grenades towards the angel, trying to prevent it from getting free. Dozens of spikes pierced the angel and another dozen anchored itself to the ground; while the angel proceeded to destroy the second projectile. The creature started shooting randomly all around apparently trying to hit one of the grenades.

The angel's energy weapon seams to indeed get diffused by the virtual glass but remained powerful enough to destroy the projectiles. – Trax said. – I think I can reconfigure the shield geometry of your arm shields to disperse the beam sufficiently to only cause minimal damage to the EVA.

Hurry Up – Asuka screamed over the coms.

Damn it how do we destroy this thing. – Misato said. – We need to retreat and come up with a plan.

Done. – Trax said.

Asuka Langley does not retreat. – She said over the coms and unit 02 attacked the angel with the arm shield deployed.

What are you doing Asuka? – Shinji screamed. – That was not the plan.

The angel tried to stop unit 02 with the energy beams, but to no avail the virtual glass shield held up. Unit 02 used the rail gun to target the angels head; Asuka reprogramed the projectile to generate two spikes which pierced the head of the creature temporary disabling its energy weapon.

What does it look like, dummy! – Asuka said. – I'm finishing it off!

Unit 02 ditched the railgun and pulled the Prog-knife while charging towards the still immobilized angel. In that instance the Angel's vestigial arms "unrolled" into flexible extremely long and very thin stripes. With these the creature assaulted Unit 02 cleanly separating its right leg and severely damaging its left arm. Asuka screamed in pain.

Asuka! – Misato screamed over the coms. – Pilot status?

She seems fine, the input filters prevented sensory overload. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

Schweinehund! – Asuka screamed while grabbing the Prog-knife stronger and trying to stand up. – Ich werde dich vernichten!

The angel pulled its thin ribbon like arms back preparing for another strike.

Asuka run away. – Shinji screamed.

Never! – Asuka screamed back struggling to get unit 02 upright.

The angel deployed its arms again targeting Units 02 head and right arm; however unit 01 pushed unit 02 out of the way. The angel skimmed unit 01 back and entirely missed unit 02.

Major damage to the power supply unit, coolant is leaking, initiating emergency shutdown. – Technician Igorevich said.

Unit 01 on backup power, 4 minutes 50 seconds activation remaining. – Lieutenant Hyuga said.

Status of the enemy? – Misato asked.

It's still regenerating its energy weapon it seems. – Lieutenant Aoba reported.

Booth grenades still operational the target is pinned down – Trax said.

Shinji get Unit 02 into safety. – Misato ordered.

Unit 01 grabbed unit 02 by its intact arm and started pulling it away behind a close hill, the angel however continued his offensive severing unit 01's left arm, and damaging units 02 left hip.

Shinji screamed in pain unit 02 fell to the ground; at this point the HQ had already disabled unit 02 sensory inputs and motor control, Asuka could only watch the situation unfold. Unit 01 stood up screaming and tackled the angel, pushing it towards a close by cliff. Booth fell down a few hundred meters rolling down a steep slope.

Once they hit the ground Unit 01 came up on to and started trying to smash the angels core with its right arm, before however it could inflict any damage the energy run out.

Target out of sight. – Rei reported calmly.

Oh no! Energy reserves depleted. – Shinji said. – Common move, Move! – Shinji continued screaming, trying to get unit 01 moving again.

The angel wrapped one of its thin arms around units 01 head and through it against a hillside. Than it proceeded with cutting of pieces of units 01 chest armor, exposing its core.

Move! Come on move. – Shinji continued – Come on move, you got to move now or everyone is going to be killed, wake up!

In that instance unit 01 reactivated. It grabbed the angels arm attacking the core and ripped it off, while using its foot to push back the angel.

How is that possible?! – Misato screamed.

That should be impossible! – Lieutenant Ibuki said. – The fall damaged the com systems we don't have any telemetry from the entry plug.

Unit 01 attached the angels ripped of arm to what was left or its left arm, it seemed the Eva's tissue grew into it and the ribbon quickly grew into the shape of the previously lost arm.

What the heck?! – Misato screamed.

It seems unit 01 assimilated the angel's biomass to regenerate the lost limb. – Trax said.

It's finally happened she's awake. – Dr. Akagi mumbled to herself.

Unit 01 screamed loudly while the angel stood up and tried to attack it with its remaining ribbon arm. Unit 01 deployed its AT field severing the creatures remaining limb in midair. The angel tried attacking with its just regained energy beam weapon but to no avail, units 01 AT-Field blocked the beam entirely.

It went totally berserk. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

Than the EVA jumped the angel and started to rip it apart piece by piece while screaming like a wild animal.

Can we deactivate it? – Misato asked.

Termination signals have no effect. – Lieutenant Ibuki said.

Once unit 01 removed the creatures head and shortly after exposed its core, it put its right hand on it and the core started to crumble inwards while units 01 core started to shine brightly.

Energy readings from Unit 01 core! – Lieutenant Ibuki reported.

Is the Evangelion trying to absorb the angels S2 engine? – Ritsuko asked.

Our satellites detect a massive neutrino flux originating from unit's 01 location. – Nadia said – There is no doubt its core is now active and sustaining energy generation on its own.

It must have somehow assimilated the core material from the Angels core and used it to repair its own. – Trax speculated.

Shinji! Do you hear me! – Misato screamed over the coms hoping to reach the entry plug despite the damage. – Why, how is he doing that?

I don't think he's in control. – Ritsuko said quietly.

What?! – Misato asked.

Unit 01 started to climb the hill; it went past unit 02 continuing on its way towards the city.

When the Evangelion goes berserk the pilot is no longer in control. – Dr. Akagi said.

Who is than in control?! – Misato asked but Ritsuko did not answer.

Unit 01 is approaching the city. – Lieutenant Aoba said.

Is it going to attack us? – Misato asked.

I don't know. – Ritsuko said. – I don't think its acting rationally.

Prepare the throw nets and anchor cables; we have to subdue the Evangelion without inflicting major damage. – The commander ordered, what was unusual as normally the commanders don't interfere with normal operations.

Unit 01 while on its way towards the city continued removing the remaining bits of its armor.

Reactivate the motoric controls, I'll stop that idiot! – Asuka screamed over the coms.

No Asuka, unit 02 damages are too severe, if you try standing up it may lose the other lead to. – Misato said.

Do you expect me to just sit idle and let the idiot run amok?! – Asuka asked.

We don't think he is in control anymore. – Misato said.

You will sit there until we can retrieve unit 02 safely to the HQ. – The commander said

What?! – Asuka asked.

Unit 01 is approaching my position, shell I stop it? – Rei asked calmly over the coms.

Be careful Rei we don't know how unit 01 may react. – Misato said. – Also your unit is not in shape for a close combat.

Capturing unit 01 takes precedence, if unit 00 gets damaged so be it. – The commander said.

Unit 00 approached unit 01, blocking its way toward the city. Unit 01 stopped for a second stared on the other EVA for a minute or two than continue moving towards Neo Tokyo on a slightly altered route.

Grab unit 01 and hold it down. – The commander ordered.

Evangelion 00 tried to grab unit 01 from behind and throw it to the ground, but unit 01 got loose pushed unit 00 away and continued running towards the city.

Unit 00 tried running after it. – Stop Rei! – Dr. Akagi ordered you will damage your Eva the provisional repairs won't take that amount of g forces.

That's irrelevant. – The commander said.

We gain nothing if unit 00 falls apart before it catches up with unit 01 – Ritsuko argued.

Fine, next time fix the unit in time! – The commander agreed.

Interesting, unit 01 seamed not hostile towards unit 00. – Trax thought.

So you think, whom ever is in control is not hostile towards NERV. – Nadia asked.

Well, there are only two options Shinji Ikari or Yui Ikari. – Trax replied.

You think she is now in control? – Nadia asked.

I'm quite certain of that. – Trax thought – Also Ritsuko said earlier "she's awake", I guess she meant Yui which sole we assume got trapped in unit 01 during that failed experiment.

Hmm… I see. – Nadia though.

At its current pace unit 01 wil reach the city in an hour. – Lieutenant Aoba reported.

Ok – Misato said. –In the meantime let's get Asuka out of unit 02. – Misato ordered.

A transport harness was brought by chopper to units 02 location, once a Eva unit is strapped in it supports its individual body parts allowing for a shutdown and transport without any damages, even when the AT-field is off.

Unit 02's motoric controls were reactivated and Asuka maneuvered the unit safely into the harness. Once that was done the unit was shut down and the entry plug ejected. Asuka and unit 02 were transported to the HQ.

In the meantime Unit 01 reached the city, the commanders ordered the throw nets to be deployed, Unit 01 got stuck in them and preceded with slowly ripping them apart. The netting being made of thin super strong graphene ropes was hard to rip apart, units 01 biological components started to take damage.

A few minutes later unit 00 arrived at the cities edge.

How the heck can we stop it? – Misato asked.

The netting should hold we will wait until the unit deactivates on its own. – The commander said.

What if it doesn't? – Misato asked.

Than we will have to take it down by force. – The sub commander said.

Rei, activate the external speakers and try to talk to the unit in order to calm it down. – Nadia suggested.

What should I say? – Rei asked.

Tell her she's safe and that nothing bad will happen to her. – Nadia said

The strategy did not seemed to work, while unit 01 seamed to calm down a bit it was still trying to get free inflicting more and more damage on its biological components.

That's odd, it ripped the angel so easily apart why is it now unable to get through the netting. – Misato wondered.

Well it would have to use eider some sort of energy weapon which it does not have or it's AT-Field. – Nadia speculated – It's possibly that the offensive applications of its AT-Field are contingent on its emotional status.

Or it understands that doing so would inflict significant damages to the city and it doesn't want that. – Trax said.

Ritsuko! You said you think that Shinji is not in control who than is? – Misato asked.

I can't be certain. – Dr. Akagi said and looked towards the commanders.

We have to bring Unit 01 back under our control. – The sub Commander said. – I suggest you focus on the task at hand.

Rei! It's risky, but approach unit 01 and try to hug it, if its autonomous nervous system is similar to a human one it may have a calming effect. – Nadia suggested.

Unit 00 followed the order, after some struggling unit 01 started to calm down further and ceased trying to rip through the netting.

Well that worked. – Trax said.

Now the risky part, a technician has to get to the cranial hub and initiate a shutdown manually. – Dr. Akagi said.

What will that do exactly? – Misato asked.

It will release a large sedative dose directly into unit's 01 brain rendering it unconscious. – Dr. Akagi said.

The manual shutdown succeeded and lieutenant Hyuga has now a really exciting story to tell how he climbed onto an out of control leva unit. Unit 01 was then brought down to the HQ placed in its cage which was filled up with liquid. The operation took a few hours in the meantime Trax, Nadia and the other pilots returned to their living quarters, Shinji was still trapped in unit 01.

Misato entered the cage. – Status when can we eject the entry plug? – She asked.

We are reestablishing telemetry connection right now, the unit is stable and a provisional fixture is being put in place. – A technician reported.

A few minutes later Ritsuko entered. – We have a problem.

What? – Misato asked – Is Shinji OK?

It appears he has been absorbed by the Evangelion. – Ritsuko said – The entry plug is empty except for his plugsuit.

That can't be possible! – Misato screamed – What happened to Shinji?

I'm afraid it's possible when such a high synchro level gets reached. – Ritsuko said.

What does that mean? – Misato asked – What are the evangelions exactly; how can they do that?

I can't tell you that. – Ritsuko said – I can only tell you that they are something created by man in his own image.

You did not create anything! – Misato said – These are just copies of something you found!

Unit 01 is more than just a copy it harbors a human will inside it. – Ritsuko said.

Are you saying someone wanted that to happen?! – Misato asked angry.

Not someone, unit 01. – Ritsuko answered calmly.

Misato slapped Ritsuko. – Do something. It's your damn monster take responsibility for it!

Meanwhile in Trax and Nadia's apartment, Asuka is ranting about losing the fight and if that was not enough of a humiliation that "idiot Shinji" beating the angel.

I can't believe it. I couldn't do anything against that angel. – Asuka said – I can't believe that that idiot outperformed me!

Well if it's of any conciliation we don't think Shinji was in control. – Nadia said.

It's not! – Asuka screamed! – So he was saved by the ghost of his mother who was in a coma for the last decade?! How could that possibly be, in any way, less of a humiliation.

Calm down Asuka. – Nadia said – You can't always win.

Says who! – Asuka replied.

It's how the world works and you know that. – Nadia said. – Trax don't you want to say something?

My nonexistent social skills would surly only make things worse. – Trax said grinning

In that instance his phone rang. – Its Misato I have to take it.

Asuka continued her rant.

Asuka! If what Nadia already said wasn't in any way conciliation, may be that will be: Apparently Shinji got himself disintegrated in the entry plug. – Trax said without expressing any compassion – Ritsukos staff is scrambling to find a way to get him back, in one piece again.

… – Asuka got silent for a moment. – He's gone?

Based on what Misato told me my best guess would be that the EVA generated an Anti AT-Fied inside the entry plug. – Trax said.

He's annoying and incompetent but he did not deserve to die. – Asuka said, visibly a bit embarrassed by wishing him all the worst things in the world just minutes ago.

What now? – Nadia asked.

Since the commanders don't want us to know anything about these aspects of the EVA project I guess we will have to sit that out. – Trax said.

The next day.

According to Misato NERV just got their budget doubled, they are working on finishing the repairs in unit 00 and 03 as well as to repair your unit 02 as soon as possible. – Trax said.

Yea, it never was that bad there is no unit fully operational. – Nadia said – If an angel would to attack now ….

Yea what then? – Asuka asked. – I think it is time you show me your contingency plan. And I mean the real one not the: we just drop a secret Taelon WMD on japan and blow it out of the ocean.

You mean the one where we blow up the planet? – Trax said smirking.

No, she's right she should know. – Nadia said. – Asuka we will show you something no mortal has seen since countless millennia.

Grab some outdoor clothing and meet us in the lab. – Trax said.

30 minutes later in the Lab in the apartment.

So where are we going? – Asuka asked. – Are we using the Taelon portal?

Yes. – Trax said – And we are going to an ancient satellite city one of two generation ships Nadia's ancestors used when they came to earth.

It's the last one in working condition. – Nadia said – We found it after it reactivated 15 years ago probably as result of the second impact.

What happened to the other one? – Asuka asked.

There was a war long time ago, and it got badly damaged. – Nadia said – It lost its propulsion capabilities and is currently berried hundreds of meters deep in the Sahara desert.

In its current state it is not recoverable. – Trax said – It is not a complete ruin but most of the automated maintenance and repair systems are nonoperational.

In what condition is the other one, the one we are visiting? – Asuka asked.

It is in decent condition, the automated systems kept it for the most part in working order. – Nadia said.

For countless millennia? – Asuka asked.

Yes, not all technology is designed to be disposable like the human once. – Nadia said – The machines build by my ancestors were made to last eternally.

They entered the interdimensional portal and when it activated were transported to a huge hall inside Red Noah.

An android approached. – Welcome princess Nadia.

Who is that? – Asuka asked.

That's an android build with Atlantean technology many hundred years ago. – Trax said.

An android... – Asuka said surprised. – But she looks so lifelike.

I was built from prosthetic components intended for humans. – The android said.

Have you built her? – Asuka asked.

No, we found her floating in space in a debris field, orbiting a planet on which few thousand years ago a colony was build. – Nadia said – Unfortunately the colony was no longer inhabited when we arrived.

The group proceeded to look around the satellite city, an hour later:

So if this place is still working, you have all the records from the past from when the first angels were created? – Asuka asked.

The knowledge of my ancestors should be still stored in the chips computing cores, but we don't have any index. – Nadia said. – It's like having a library with all the books in the world ever written which is not sorted. The knowledge is there but at the same time it can't be accessed in a meaningful way.

How's that? – Asuka asked. – Wouldn't an advanced civilization know how to manage their knowledge?

Preserving it took precedence to keeping it organized. – Trax said. – The Atlantean architecture prefers decentralized systems, so no one central computing core but many independent systems. Also for storing data, instead of one large database with individual tables for every other thing, they used separate database servers, etc… The automated repair and maintenance systems had only relatively little backup energy available. So they had to be very conservative when maintaining the systems and always repairing every failing non-essential system was not always within the available energy budget so the data were moved around to other systems and over the millennia this created quite a mess.

As far as I can tell all data still exist its current location is however unknown. – The android said.

Now that the ship's main power has been restored it is slowly repairing itself to full operating condition. – Nadia said – But this will still take years.

The physical damages are estimated to be repaired in about 60 thousand hours. – The android said – However I cannot estimate the time required to defragment and index all databases. Based on the current progress this can take even millions of hours.

Why couldn't the ship just repair its main power source? – Asuka asked.

Because it was not broken, it was missing. – Nadia said. She held her right hand in front of her chest in that instance out of a blindingly bright burst of blue light a small octahedron shaped object appeared. – This is the power of Atlantis a holy artefact passed down through generations. When Red Noah was lost the connection was severed, once we found it we could restore it and now the space Ark has all the power required.

What is that? – Asuka asked.

It's called Blue Water. – Nadia said. – According to what was passed down through generations it is one of 4 holy artefacts that have been created by an ancient race, which created the atlanteans and from which last heir the Atlantis dynasty descends in a direct maternal bloodline. According to the legend they were not just the first sentient beings in the universe but they are supposed to have created the universe itself. It's said that back then their powers were limitless. However these did not last eternally as they spread life across the universe their powers begin to weaken. So they created these artefacts and bestowed their infinite powers upon them, creating keys to alter reality itself at will.

I see. So that's what you people believe in. That sounds to me like a myth or even some sort of religion. – Asuka said provocatively. – At least that explains why Trax sometimes calls you a goddess.

The atlanteans inherited all the technology from this First Ancestral Race; it is not a matter of faith in dozens of times transcribed and re tolled stories. – Trax said – There are original detailed lab records in the libraries from when the Ancient scientists engineered a primitive Hominidae like species into a humanoid one being capable of operating sophisticated technology and continuing their demising civilization on their own.

It is also a fact that when you visit other planets with life on them it always looks similar, and often at some point in time culminates in the emergence of an intelligent humanoid species, one that resembles their creators. – Nadia said.

So this Ancient Specie spread the life in the galaxy but how does that prove that they created the universe itself? – Asuka asked.

It does not, that's why I said that this part is a legend. – Nadia said.

I see. – Asuka said. – So these holy artefacts of the Atlanteans are just devices technologically so advanced that no Atlantean could understand how they work?

Well, neither the Atlanteans nor the Ancients themselves, at least not anymore. – Nadia said – It's a purely academic question, to quote Arthur C. Clarke "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".

Ok, so where are the other artefacts? – Asuka asked.

One called Yellow Wind was left behind on the Atlantean home world. When my ancestors came to earth they were searching for another one called Red Fire. – Nadia said.

Did they find it? – Asuka asked.

No. – Nadia said.

So why did they stayed? – Asuka asked.

That's complicated, let's say for political reasons. – Nadia said.

Mmh… ok and what's with the fourth artefact? – Asuka asked.

Well that's another story after the Ancients created the artefacts one of their fractions which was in possession of the one called Green Rock was not satisfied with the limitations of their existence they strived to regain the powers they had when they were the only sentient existence. – Nadia said. – This fraction believed that by creating a single collective consciousness they could regain the powers once lost. At first after they all merged into one collective mind their members traveled the inhabited worlds evangelizing for other Ancients to join their collective voluntarily. But the Ancients enjoyed being individual beings with own dreams, aspirations, and goals. So at some point they started to force the remaining Ancients as well as other developed new races to join their hive mind. That was the beginning of a holy war which waged on for thousands of years, with nothing less at stake than the faith of all that exists in this universe.

And the Ancients eventually won? – Asuka said.

No, but neither did the collective. – Nadia said. – After a huge space battle where the collective fleet got decimated they retreated, but they were not destroyed. The Ancients themselves were left to few to maintain their civilization.

And that's where the atlanteans come into play. So this collective may return one day… – Asuka said – … but anyways, how did they come up with that ludicrous idea to merge all intelligent lifeforms into one hive mind?

The Ancients as known by the Atlanteans hundred thousand years ago were very different from what they were few billion years ago when they seeded the primordial environments of countless planets with life that would evolve towards forms similar to their own. – Trax said – And these were again different from what they were many billions years earlier when they experienced life for the first time.

All that is known of these beings are legends. – Trax said. – The early Ancients were a civilization unlike any other they had impeccable technological prowess but they had never developed the scientific method, as makers of these world they knew how it works from the get go. And they could apply their knowledge of the Grand Unified Theory to perform technological miracles.

Before there was time and space there was only sentience existing in an endless infinite homogeneous nothingness void of any experience. – The android said. – So the sentience decided to perturb this nothingness, to bring an infinitesimally small piece of it out of balance. That event was what is known to human scientists as the big bang that gave birth to the universe as it is known today. After the Planck epoch the universe was filled homogeneously and isotropically with a very high energy density resulting in huge temperatures and pressures. It was very rapidly expanding and cooling. Approximately 10e−37 seconds into that expansion the sentience caused a cosmic inflation, making the universe grew exponentially and allowing density fluctuations that occurred because of the uncertainty principle to be amplified into the seeds that would later form the large-scale structure of the universe. After the inflationary epoch ended and reheating brought the universe back to temperatures required for the production of a quark–gluon plasma as well as all other elementary particles. Temperatures during the Quark Epoch were so high that the random motions of particles were at relativistic speeds, and particle–antiparticle pairs of all kinds were being continuously created and destroyed in collisions. But not even after 10e-6 seconds neither matter nor Antimatter gained an upper hand, hence also this state of the newly created existence was ultimately void of new experiences. So the sentience intervened once again, and violated the conservation of baryon number, leading to a very small excess of quarks and leptons over antiquarks and antileptons (of the order of one part in 30 million). This resulted in the predominance of matter over antimatter in the present universe. And the rest is known cosmology.

About 15 million years after the Big Bang there was a short Habitable Epoch during which liquid water existed on rocky planets heated by the cosmic microwave background radiation. – The android continued – The planets were formed in pockets of the Universe where matter was exceptionally dense, leading to the formation of massive, short-lived stars that enriched these pockets in the heavier elements needed for life.

Authors note: The "Habitable Epoch" is not some Deus Ex Machina idea but a serious scientific hypothesis: /abs/1312.0613

The sentience used the elements its newly formed universe produced to build random machines capable of interaction and later self-replication. – The android said. – The sentience played with these machines for millions of years ultimately using them to giving itself a form capable of conscious interaction with its surroundings. This was the first sentient lifeform. It existed for billions of years endlessly reshaping its surroundings ant itself but also this existence at some point became void of any new experiences. At this point the, till than singular existence, begun to separate into individual organisms forming biological life as we know it. These creatures eventually evolved into a humanoid form and after they explored the planet they lived on, they moved out into the universe explored the stars and found nothing like themselves, experiencing this vast emptiness void of any life, void of anything new the Ancients set forth to change this. They seeded life based on their own biology, containing pieces of their sole so that it as well could experience life, on countless planets potentially capable of sustaining its simple form. That was about 4.5 billion years ago.

Till than everything went well the Ancients while being distinct individuals could still shape the world as they sought fit, but that was not to last, as life started to flourish in the universe they realized that their powers were vanishing. – The android continued – While at first there was only one mind with one perception of reality it was capable of shaping that reality in any imaginable way. When what once was one became many they still ware able to agree on a new reality, but as they grew in numbers and as they became more and more different from each other their ability to form a new consensus of reality weakened, to a point where their dominance over their creation was at stake. Those that once created the universe capable of playing with it on a wimp now were threatened to become nothing more than a plaything of the very same universe. So as a last collective act of ultimate defiance they created a key to alter reality itself. Realizing that such power could not be held by any one individual they divided it into four elements each of which would be kept safe by one of the back than emerged major Ancient fractions. This happened about 1.5 billion years ago.

While back than the Ancients still possessed all the knowledge of how the world functions, by the time their created the Atlanteans few hundred thousand years ago they have forgotten it and had to rediscover it all through the scientific method. – Trax added.

And based on this creation mythology one of these fractions decided to conquer the universe and to feel righteous about it? – Asuka said.

Yes. And two other fractions decided to oppose them with any means necessary. – Trax said.

What about the fourth one? – Asuka asked.

Their whereabouts were unknown since millions of years, for what was known they may have ceased to exist, entered another form of existence or possibly have left this universe altogether. – Trax said.

The group continued through the ark and arrived at an upper promenade deck located at the top of the ship.

So you are going to use this ship to fight the angels? – Asuka asked.

This ship contains a device capable of generating an energy beam similar to the one created by the crystalline angel just a few dozen times stronger. – Nadia said. – My ancestors called it the light of Babel a weapon strong enough to scorch the heavens.

And it's strong enough to pierce an AT-Field? – Asuka asked.

It is capable of much more than that an AT-Field won't even be a hindrance. – Trax said.

So why haven't you used it earlier? – Asuka asked. – Why did we have to fight those creatures?

Isn't that obvious? – Trax said – Using the light of babel would most certainly disclose the location of this ship to the world.

And it possibly would make the world aware of the fact that the Taelons were not the only aliens to visit earth. – Nadia said. – Although the SEELE committee probably knows that already.

Can this place be defended if mankind would try to invade? – Asuka asked.

With Red Noah we could wage war on the world and win. – Trax said – But that would cause incredible casualties.

Also the main engines haven't been powered for millennia while they should be in working condition we won't know until we try to get in orbit. – Nadia added.

If you are not sure it will even fly how can you relay on it to fight the angels? – Asuka asked.

The light of Babel was not built to be a weapon we think, but it was at some point repurposed. – Trax explained. – The firing tower is located in the very center of the ship to aim the weapon the entire ship needs to move.

My ancestors overcome these limitations by using satellites in orbit, which can redirect the light of babel to any spot on the planet. – Nadia added.

And these satellites are still out there? – Asuka asked.

Yes most of them are. – Nadia said.

What could be the original purpose of something so powerful? – Asuka asked

For now this knowledge is still lost. – Nadia said.


End file.
